Second Chances
by Verenmacht9216
Summary: Four weeks ago, Tekartha Mondatta was assassinated. Lena Oxton knows who Widowmaker really is, but must wrestle with her desire to avenge Mondatta, or keep her promise to Gerard. Her promise: To protect Amélie and keep her safe. What will she decide?
1. The present day

Lightning flashed, tearing Amélie Lacroix from the soft blanket of death's embrace.

The lightning also illuminating a group of five people chasing a group of two down dark moonlit streets.

"Hold on luv, we're almost safe!" Shouted Lena Oxton, also known as Tracer. The events of the past two weeks had made the two women wanted people. Outnumbered, on the run, they were down on their luck, and Lena knew it. Turning around, Tracer laid down covering fire with her Pulse pistols to buy some time for Amélie to rest. It was ironic that it had come to this. That Overwatch should hunt their own mascot for weeks was unthinkable and yet, Amélie and Lena were in just such a position, with Amélie bleeding out rapidly. Lena wished it didn't have to be this way, and yet it was. It was not just some random Overwatch soldiers chasing the two of them, no, no, no; it was worse. It was her friends in Overwatch. Jack Morrison, or Soldier: 76 as he was now known. Angela Ziegler, or Mercy. Jesse McCree. Genji Shimada. Winston. The people she thought were her best friends at Overwatch were chasing them right now. They wanted to kill Amélie to 'avenge those who lost loved ones due to Widowmaker'. Bullshit, this was vigilante justice.

Lena wouldn't let that happen. She thought Amélie deserved a second chance after all she found out about her. Continuing to fire at their Overwatch pursuers, Lena heard Winston shout from three score yards behind her.

"Lena, she's an assassin; she's murdered dozens upon dozens of innocent people. Why would you protect her after all she's done?

Widowmaker fell to her face on the cold hard stone. Tired of running, tired of holding on. She faded.

She dimly heard Lena shout.

"-suffered so much at the hands of Talon-deserves a chance, and I'll not let you deny her that-never wanted to kill those people!"

Lena blinked over to McCree and stole one of his flashbangs. Blinking over in front of Genji, she fired her pulse pistols directly at him and, side stepping, dodged her reflected pulse ammunition. Blinking away from Genji, she threw a flashbang in his face, making sure he couldn't catch up to the two of them, he being the fastest of their pursuers. His cyborg body meant he could sprint long distances for long periods of time without feeling exhaustion. "Sorry Genji, Sorry McCree!"

Recalling back to Amélie, she fired at her Overwatch friends to buy more time. "No hard feelings, luvs! I have to do this!"

She dashed over to Amélie and, picking her up, heard her speak.

"Cherie, leave me. Get to safety; I'm so tired. I just want to sleep. You can still make it if you leave me now!" Amélie whispered with all the strength she had left in her hurting body.

"Aw rubbish! You're not dying yet, luv!"

Amélie smiled faintly before her head fell and she went limp.

Momentarily holding Amélie with one arm, she used her other hand to lob a Pulse Bomb at Winston, who had closed half the distance between them. This caused him to put up his barrier, as Lena knew he would. Holding on tightly to Amélie Lacroix like her life depended on it, Lena ran.

And ran...

And ran...

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they were at the outskirts of a small town close to London. Lena had no clue where they were going to hide, but fortunately for them both, Amélie stirred and, recognising her surroundings, whispered to Lena, pointing out a safe house nearby that neither Talon nor Overwatch would think to look for them at. Lena blinked toward the building Amélie pointed at. She realized that they were about sixty miles east of the King's Row Watchpoint. Arriving at the building, Amélie whispered to Lena to set her on her feet. Standing tall, she moved her bloodstained hands to the keypad. Yelping, she staggered, almost falling but for the fact that Lena caught her. Lena crouched, applying pressure to the bullet wound in Amélie's left leg. Amélie entered the keycode. Falling to her feet, she crawled through the now open door. The door shut behind them as they entered. Amélie spoke

"Lena _cherie_ , get the medkit in the bathroom _s'il vous plait,_ I'm fading fast!" Lena blinked to the bathroom and, snatching up the medkit, returned to Amélie. Lena opened up the medical supply kit and, grabbing a pair of tweezers, she warned Amélie about the pain that was coming.

"Amélie luv, the bullet's still in your leg, I'm gonna have to pull it out; can you stay still for me please? This won't take long, and even if it hurts a shit-ton now, you'll feel better for it later!"

At those words, a memory flashed before Amélie's eyes.

 _A scientist in a lab coat with an evil smile and eyes that glared daggers._

"You've been getting so sloppy in your missions, the Board decided you need to go to the chair for some retuning. It won't take long, and then you'll be perfect again Widowmaker!

At that memory, Widowmaker snapped, trying to kill the scientist she saw in front of her. She lunged for his throat...

Lena was just sliding the tweezers into the bleeding hole in Amélie's leg when she felt hands gripping her throat. Looking at Widowmaker in her surprise, she saw her eyes burning with hate. Lena got the rub of the situation and tried to ply Widowmaker's cold hands off her throat, but failed. Seeing stars before her eyes, Lena tried one last dirty trick; squeezing Amélie's leg hard. Widowmaker groaned and released her grip, only to try a right hook to Lena's face. Lena hopped backwards and, blinking forward, hit Amélie Lacroix straight on the jaw with enough force to break it; she heard a crunching sound. Widowmaker fell unconscious. Lena figured Amélie must have suffered a panic attack due to something she said, so she didn't hold what happened against her, but rather continued to treat her injuries. Removing the bullet from Amélie's leg, she found a canister of nano-probes in the med-kit.

"Blimey," She exclaimed. "Looks like Talon's got their hands on Angie's tech!"

Not trusting Talon not to put some form of their brain washing tech into a canister of nano-probes, and not knowing what purpose those nano-probes served, she discarded them. Finding a canister of coagulant and some gauze, she applied the coagulator to stop the bleeding and, getting a cloth and some rubbing alcohol, she cleaned the wound and applied the gauze. Tying a rag around Amélie's leg in a tight knot, she lifted her up bridal style and laid her down on the bed in the bed room. Going back to the living area where she and Widowmaker fought, Lena set to cleaning up the place. Finishing that moments later, she entered the kitchen and dug around in the freezer for an ice pack, needing it for Amélie's jaw. Finding one, she walked into the bed room, where she located a scarf on the bed. She tip-toed around, careful not to wake the sleeping Amélie. Retrieving it, her breath caught when Amélie moaned in pain and called out her name. Concern evident in the way she spoke the word. Carefully touching the ice-pack to Amélie's jaw, she wrapped the scarf tightly around it to suspend it in place. Stepping back, she surveyed her handiwork.

"Not bloody bad for someone who never studied medicine! Wait till Angie hears this! That is, if we're ever on speaking terms after this whole mess."

Stepping around the bed, she sank down onto the sofa, watching Amélie closely. Getting up, she grabbed the blanket that lay at the foot of the bed and covered Amélie with it, and then sat back down. Smiling when Amélie subconsciously shrugged the blanket higher onto her shoulders. She looked at peace. "I promised I would." Lena thought aloud. Shaking her head forcefully, she moved to a different train of thought to keep herself from thinking twice about her commitment to help/save Amélie.

"What are we going to do now?" Lena wondered. The more she tossed that around in her head, the more the implications of today came to mind. She had ran from Overwatch; committing insubordination to the highest degree in the process. And moreover she had shot at them, threw a flashbang and a Pulse Bomb at them! This all started when she didn't trust them to come to an accurate picture of what happened to Amélie. When she decided that it was better to go rogue than let them perform vigilante justice on Amélie for the sins of her Talon identity, Widowmaker. Not knowing like Lena did that Amélie never wanted to be the Widowmaker; that the life of an assassin had been forced upon her.

And now they were both wanted by Overwatch. And as if that weren't enough, Talon wanted to find Amélie so they could reprogram her to be their pet assassin. She was alone, with only her wits to save her and Amélie. "What are we gonna do?" Lena wailed in dismay. Only time would tell what was going to happen to them...


	2. Four Weeks Earlier

It had been a long and particularly trying day for Lena Oxton, or Tracer as she was better, more commonly known as.

Tonight, the Omnic Monk Tekartha Mondatta was assassinated at a Human-Omnic Peace rally by the Widowmaker; the Talon terrorist group's most effective assassin. Not only was she good, as Lena knew from the Numbani Heritage Museum, she was as heartless as they come. Lena knew that somewhere underneath that cold exterior lay Amélie Lacroix, waiting for someone to break her out of the living hell those Talon fucks had so flippantly volunteered her for. It wasn't enough to them that she was forced to murder her husband; Gerard Lacroix; who was by all accounts a loving, devoted man, and without doubt a good agent. No, no, no, Talon had to mess with her life too.

So they tampered with her physiology; altering her heart rate and lowering the level of oxygen her body required to function properly. When Lena found out that it was Amélie, she visited Gerard's grave, and swore an oath to break through Talon's mental reconditioning, and make sure that Amélie could live a life of happiness and peace. Tonight however, she had been focused solely on protecting Mondatta, and she failed. Now, she was prepared to face Widowmaker should they meet again soon

Moping around the London Watchpoint for about a week looking for a lead, she decided she was going to try to steal Talon intel to try and find details of any hits that they might send their prized assassin on. Taking a trip via air travel using a fake I.D., she arrived in Japan two-to-three hours later, at around seven in the evening. She was going to have to sneak into a Talon base to get that intel, but first, she wanted to see if she could recruit a certain Japanese archer for assistance. Hanzo Shimada; not much was known about him by Overwatch except that he nearly murdered his brother Genji, and that by the efforts of Angela Ziegler, his life was spared. And thanks to a certain Shambhali monk by the name of Zenyatta, whom he ran across, he made peace with who he was.

Now Hanzo was a mercenary, trying to redeem his honor. Finding herself in a Japanese market nearabouts to Hanamura, she browsed through stalls, and seeing someone she thought might be Hanzo, she pushed through the crowd, trying to catch up with him. When she got there she looked around, and spotting the man, she spoke the name Hanzo Shimada lowly and clearly. Not overtly threatening, but not outright weak. He turned rapidly. Looking he spotted Lena.

"Who are you, young girl, and what do you want?"

"Name's Lena Oxton, also known as Tracer, from Overwatch. We've met before; I'm here on official business." It was an outright lie, she had not cleared this with anyone, not Winston, not even Angela, but she was okay with it, if it would help procure his assistance.

"Speak your business, Tracer." Hanzo intoned.

"They've sent me to hit a Talon base in hopes of finding intelligence on where the assassin, Widowmaker, might be sent on her next hit. They want me to head her off and eliminate the threat she poses. They are prepared to pay you for your services." Another lie. Lena would not kill Widowmaker unless absolutely necessary. But it was only a half truth in retrospect, as, if she managed to restore Amélie Lacroix's mind, she would hopefully, no longer be a threat to Overwatch. _With a shiteload of luck, she might even turn on Talon like a hungry lion._ Lena thought. "And considering Talon is a terrorist group, I'm sure it would be an honorable mission," Lena reached.

"I shall assist you. But to clarify, are we to eliminate the Widowmaker as well?"

"No," Lena said hastily, not wanting Hanzo to get it in his head that it would be honorable to kill Widowmaker. Lena knew it would be impossible to protect her forever if Hanzo set his mind on killing her. Unless she killed him, but she had no intentions of doing that, as, not only did she not think it would be necessary in the first place, she wished to avoid falling out with his brother Genji.

"No, you're to help me raid the base while maintaining uncompromised op-sec. that's what you're here for luv, it's my job to eliminate the Widowmaker however necessary, and I neither need nor want your help for that, if you understand."

"I sense a hidden motive. What are you not telling me?"

"I have no hidden motives, I simply wish to kill the Widowmaker myself as payback for Tekartha Mondatta." Another lie, and Lena was starting to get uncomfortable.

"That was not an answer, that was a dodge, confirming the existence of hidden motives. I will not assist you until you tell me the whole truth. _Konbanha_ , Lena Oxton."

Turning around, Hanzo didn't even have time to walk three steps before Tracer was in front of him and conceeded. "Okay, okay, you win. I'm fixin' to try and bring Amélie Lacroix back. You wouldn't know who that is, but she was, and is still an innocent woman, formerly married to the late Gerard Lacroix. That was before those Talon bastards decided it was okay to kidnap her and break her mind until she was ready to be programmed-like a fucking computer-as a sleeper agent. Two weeks later, Widowmaker-Widowmaker, not Amélie, mind-murdered her husband. And I'm assuming that's why Talon gave her the name when she returned to them, that also being part of the programming. I knew Gerard, and he loved her so much. He was devoted to her."

"Then why are you trying to save the assassin's life if she took the life of her husband, who you say loved her so deeply?"

At that Lena snapped. Barely stopping herself from screaming, she spoke a little bit louder than she should have, but quieter than she wanted to. A few heads turned.

"BECAUSE I SWORE AN OATH ON HIS GRAVE THAT I'D HELP AND PROTECT HER, DAMMIT!"

"Lena, this is foolishness. She will more likely kill you than remember her old life."

There it was. Just as she knew he would say it. Lena. He was speaking as a friend. They had worked before, and he was like a father to her, more so than her father who died when she was twenty years old. Talking her out of the brash foolishness of her heart. Listening, caring. Maybe he didn't recognize her at first, but it had been years. Two years, five months and change, to be exact.

"I'm willing to take that chance. Gerard would want Amélie to be happy, not dead. With or without your help, I'm hitting that base!"

"Calm down, Lena, I'll help you, but after this mission, I absolve myself of involvement in the matter. That is all on you. Where is the base?"

At that, Lena smiled.

"Zurich."

* * *

Arriving at Zurich the next day, She and Hanzo walked to town, looking for supplies and then some equipment. Lena spotted a hardware store. Stopping inside, she purchased two pairs of binoculars with cash, so as to ensure that it would remain untraceable. While inside the store, she heard a weird buzzing noise. Looking left, and then right, she saw nothing.

From behind her, she heard a female Hispanic woman speak.

"Looking for me?"

Lena had no time to speak before she was pushed inside the bathroom in the back of the store by the strange woman known to the world as only Sombra. _Shadow... The name fits well,_ thought Lena. Hearing the click of the lock. She had no time to speak before Sombra asked sharply

"What are you doing here? Talon sent the Widowmaker to look for you and kill you!"

"Why would you tell me that?" Lena inquired.

"Would you believe me if I told you I 'accidentally' gave you a head's-up warning-thereby time to save your life-because I'm a fan of yours from your Overwatch glory days?"

"I would. But I wouldn't believe it if you said that was the only reason."

"You're right, I've got other reasons. So what are you doing here, chica?"

"I'm looking for Widowmaker, as it happens."

Putting a hand on the sub-machine gun at her hip, she was curious.

"Why, particularly?"

"Right now, I'm looking to find her, but if/when I find her, I'm looking to help her."

Sombra was suspicious, and didn't wish to allow harm to befall Amélie. She met Widowmaker while on mission in Russia to kill Katya Volskaya,-not that that was her mission-and, while she didn't let it show, she was intrigued about her. Being the best hacker in the world, she planted untraceable malware in Talon's encrypted storage files and extracted copies of everything they had on Widowmaker. At that point, she decided she would bring Talon to their knees before letting them kill or harm her. This wasn't 'the strong survive, the weak perish' on her part, either. Nope, this was the strong protect the weak. Drawing her submachine gun, she leveled it at Tracer's head.

"Define help, amiga, before I spray your brains all over the walls. Comprende?"

"Restore her to her life as that of Amélie Lacroix, and protect her from Talon. As I swore on Gerard's grave."

Holstering the SMG, she smiled. "Bueno, amiga!"

Now to business.

"Can you help me get into the Talon base nearby, Sombra? Especially since it seems we share a common interest. Anyways, how do you know about her, before she was Widowmaker?"

Thrusting her hand into her pocket, she pulled out a small storage drive. Pulling up some screens, she copied the files that she had on Amélie to the flash drive. Handing it to Lena, she smiled. "If you are trying to protect Amélie now chica, wait until after you learn what they did to her.

"Mmh, help you no. Provide information, yes. How does a detailed floor plan coupled with security specs and thermal camera feeds sound to you?"

"Bloody helpful, luv."

"But I'm not doing this for free, chica."

Lena had figured this would probably cost her some money. So she wasn't surprised when Sombra said this favor wasn't free.

"How much?"

"Fiddlesticks! If I wanted money I'd hack into every major bank in the world and withdraw some money from every currency then and there. No, I don't want money. I want you to swear on your life-not some grave-that you will not allow Amélie Lacroix to die. That you'll protect her, and keep her happy-if she is capable of happiness-to the best of your abilities. If I hear in the news any thing remotely resembling 'The Talon assassin Widowmaker met her end today', I will track you to the ends of the earth, and kill you. And since I have ears everywhere in the internet, I'll always know where you are. And I may drop in to visit Amélie any time I please. Deal?"

Lena hesitated. That was a bloody lengthy deal! Then she remembered what she promised Gerard...

"Deal."

 **Author's Note:**

 **So yeah, I'm a big fan of Overwatch, and I loved the idea of a good, serious, maybe even thought provoking story with well defined characters. I thought it'd be cool to try my hand at it, considering I'm working on a novel of my own at the same time. So yeah, thanks a ton to all you readers, please leave a review, as I definitely appreciate constructive criticism. Also, from here on out, I'm going to do as FEW Author's Notes as possible, so that I can make this more of a involved read than it would be if I did ANs all the time. Special thanks to a favorite writer of mine, by the name of E82, who gave a pretty awesome review, chock-full of helpful tips and stuff. Check out his story Addictions, def worth reading. One last thing, I'll make a list of all the words I use in other languages, and translate them into English, but I'll put that in an AN at the end of the book.**


	3. Axe to Grind

"Wait, Tracer, there's a guard coming!" Hanzo whispered into his comm device.

This was the third time that the Japanese archer had spotted a danger that if left to herself, Lena would have missed. Damn, she had to get some of those Sonar arrows.

Stopping cold, she waited for Hanzo to drop him. The soldier died of an arrow to the neck.

Picking the guard's pocket, she acquired a keycard.

"Tracer here, I've acquired the keycard. Goin' in."

She and Hanzo had been at this for almost four hours. Together, they had eliminated all the patrols, and had cleared the three security stations in the northeast, southwest, and southeast corners of the complex. Moving on to the satellite control station, Lena knew this would be the tricky part. Hanzo's sonar arrow had pinged ten guards inside. Lena would have asked Hanzo to use a scatter arrow, but she didn't want to risk damage to the computers.

"Come on, chica, you haven't got all day. More guards will be coming in thirty minutes for the change of the shift." A female hispanic voice broke in on the silence of their comm channels.

Lena started when she heard Sombra's voice over their secure comm channel. Then again, she should have figured that the master-hacker would have been watching the operation.

"I don't suppose you could jam their comms? Ya know, since you're already watching the operation?" Tracer asked, exasperated.

"If I do any more, Talon will suspect my involvement, and I'll get into hot water. I can't do anything drastic, but I can whisper in your ear of coming dangers, amiga."

Biting her tongue, Sombra considered which one she cared about more. Her friend Amélie, or Talon. It was an easy decision.

"I'll set off a false alarm, but that's it. They'll probably all investigate, but if not, you'll have to split up to deal with them."

"Thanks luv, you've been very helpful!" Tracer said in her chipper tone.

A few seconds later, a blaring alarm came from the speakers, and then a female AI voice spoke.

"Warning, intruders detected at the southeast wall. Mobilize and execute."

Lena paused, startled. Hanzo was in no danger, safely hidden on top of a building in the compound. But she was right next to the door, and she had to move. Blinking fast, she set off northeasterly, arriving at the security station in that corner of the compound and darting inside. Hanzo fired a sonar arrow at the corner of the satellite control building. Mercifully, the satellites weren't monitoring their own base. Either that, or Sombra was hacking the feeds, broadcasting an image of all the guards, patrolling. There was no other explanation, as if neither of those were the case, soldiers would have arrived and engaged them by now.

Sure enough, they split in half. Five of them investigated the southeast wall. Regrouping, they agreed it was a false alarm. And that was when Hanzo fired a scatter arrow, masterfully angling the arrow to control the direction of the ricocheting arrows; killing them all. Meanwhile, Lena blinked over from the security station. "How many are in there now, Hanzo? I need to know before I breach."

No answer.

"Hanzo, I need to know bloody now!"

Firing his last sonar arrow, Hanzo spoke.

"Marked by the dragon."

Thanks to the sonar arrow, Lena saw the position of every guard, and was prepared to breach.

Attaching a Pulse Bomb to the door, Lena stood five feet away. The door blew inward, taking a good sized chunk of the wall with it. Tracer blinked in and, shooting all the guards, cleared the building.

"They're dead; you're clear to enter, Hanzo."

"Understood." Hanzo said.

Dropping from his perch, he sprinted over and entered the building. He found Lena hunched over at the computers. Sombra had given her the frequency of Widowmaker's Infra-sight goggles so that Lena could locate her. Entering in the frequency, Lena keyed in on it; tracking it. She found Widowmaker's signal originating about thirty miles from her home. Using the hacking tips Sombra gave her, she was able to focus the satellite on the signal, allowing her to see what Widowmaker was doing at that very moment. She was presently sleeping. Downloading the program, she browsed around through the files looking for Talon bases, plans, safe-houses and such like. Downloading the information as well, she exited the building. Calling out to Hanzo, she said

"Time to torch the place. Would you mind?" Hanzo nodded. Exiting the building, he walked ten paces.

Turning around, Lena saw his arm begin to glow. She heard him shout in Japanese. Lena was able to make it out as:

"Ryuu ga waga no teki wo kurau!"

She smiled, having heard Genji say something similar to that once before.

Turning around and walking away, she and Hanzo left the base.

* * *

Arriving back in town, Hanzo wanted to get his money and split.

Lena reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a goodly sized bag with about seven hundred gold coins. She had already been to the bank to withdraw some from an old off-shore account from the Overwatch days.

Hanzo took it and, thanking Lena, parted with her. But not before he warned her of her danger.

"Lena, do not forget the dangers you face on the road you have ordained to travel. Never let your guard down should you find yourself close to the Widowmaker. She is a dangerous assassin. She has approached me for Talon once before; offering to restore the Shimada family empire. She possessed an aura of danger; never in my life was I more wary."

"Thanks luv, I'll be fine! Cheers for a job well done!"

The job done, Lena knew it was time to return to London. But how was she going to help Amélie remember? This is where things would get tricky...

Sombra appeared and, being too arrogant _not_ to announce her presence, she spoke

"Been here all along."

"Sombra, your intel was good. You have my thanks, luv! What do you want now?"

"I'm going to have to alert Talon about this. I will say that I do not know who it was, nor how many there were. I'll cover up what you did on the computers; make it look like a hit and run. But, if you want to head off Widowmaker while she's still in London, you have to get going now." Sombra cloaked and was about to run when she heard Lena.

"Wait! How do I get her to remember?!"

Not bothering uncloaking, Sombra replied.

"Get her to Overwatch and get her hooked up to a brain-scan machine whatever it takes... I'll be there by the time you're ready. I may be able to hack her brain, and trigger her memories, but she has to be asleep, and the machine has be the kind that can overwrite memories. She'll need it..."

"Why? Why will she need it?"

"Look over what I gave you; you'll see." So saying, Sombra left the area.

Lena felt herself enter a state of renewed determination.

"This might work..." Lena said hopefully.


	4. Pleased to meet you, Widowmaker!

Lena Oxton was homeward bound. Having stopped at the safe-house close-by to Hanamura, she changed into some clothes that would conceal her Chronal Accelerator, but not stick out like a sore thumb. She was headed for good old King's Row. Sombra's words were still swirling around in her head; her strange talk about the files that she gave her. But Lena didn't remember getting any files... On second thought, Sombra had given her a memory drive, and she still hadn't gotten around to looking at it...

Fortunately for Lena, she had brought her holo-vid with her, so she could view the files. Plugging in the thumb drive, she transferred the files to her holo-vid. She saw a video file; plugging in some earphones, she clicked on it. She saw a Talon doctor sitting on a chair. He seemed to be discussing the operation on Amélie Lacroix; referred to here as 'subject'.

"The subject is a Parisian female of about 30 years. Subject is in excellent health; doesn't seem to have any major conditions. A somewhat harsh degree of arachnophobia, and nothing else. We may use that for her new identity. The subject has undergone extensive shock therapy in addition to a memory-wipe. Her reconditioning has performed flawlessly. With Gerard dead, we have already started to undergo the rest of the treatment. The operation to alter her heart rate has succeeded; her heart rate remains a stable twenty beats per minute. That is all for today; she will undergo more operations tomorrow."

Lena's stomach threatened to mutiny at that video alone. But looking through contents of the drive, she saw nine more videos. _Ten?!_ Lena thought; outraged that people would do this to a fellow human being. _If you want a weapons platform, use an Omnic for it you bastards!_ Lena thought

With her stomach somewhat calmed, Lena Oxton clicked another file.

"The subject has taken to her identity rather well. We've replaced her legs with bionic substitutes, the better for mobility and lethality, if need be. She has had occasional flashes of memory, but we are optimistic that we can control this... We-"

Lena skipped the rest of that clip and clicked on the video file numbered ten.

Widowmaker stood before the camera, in her Talon uniform. The end result of their experiments...

"Widowmaker here." Said a beautiful voice possessed of a heavy French accent.

Lena found it hard to believe that the voice she heard belonged to that zombie on the screen.

 _Her name's Amélie Lacroix. No matter what Talon did to her, deep down, she's still Amélie._ Lena thought.

"I'm ready to kill; the enemies of Talon will be eliminated." Purred the same voice.

Lena was deep in thought when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Widowmaker move. Lena looked directly at the screen in time to see Widowmaker punch the camera with her left fist. Or rather, her palm. The video ended.

Lena inhaled sharply at the evidence of what they had done to her.

"Okay," Lena thought.

"What's okay, lassie?" A Swedish voice broke in on her reverie. Lena didn't realize that she had thought aloud.

She looked to the source of the voice to find a dwarf of a man with a patch over his right eye.

"Torbjörn!"

"And ye are?"

"Who am I? Don't you recognize me?" Turning to her holo-vid, she loaded up a picture of a poster with her face on it. Handing Torbjörn the holo-vid, she spoke.

"That's who I am, ya tosser! It's been so long!"

"Lena? What are you doing here?"

With that, it hit her that Torbjörn might not know about the recall... Motioning for her holo-vid, she typed up a message and sent it to him.

 _I could ask the same of you!_

Torbjörn pulled out his terminal and, seeing the look on Lena's face, replied over the holo-vid.

 _Why, I've received a contract from the Japanese government to build some of my famous Overwatch turrets and deliver the lot to them. It seems the boys need some proper automated security for their important sites. Leave this to an expert! I told them. The looks on their faces when they thought I refused, haha!_

 _Very nice! I see you've been keeping busy since Petras._

 _And you lassie?_

 _There's been a recall. We're back. I was tending to some business in Zurich._

 _I heard about the recall. Wasn't sure if it was real._

 _It is. We're closing in on Talon; I've got Widowmaker dialed in, and she won't escape. It will be a serious blow to whatever Talon is scheming when she's gone..._

 _Tell me lassie, are you letting Mondatta cloud your judgement?_

 _No! Why?_

 _Are you aware that the Widowmaker used to be Gerard's wife, Amélie?_

 _No. I wasn't. Are you sure? How?_

Lena felt uncomfortable lying to Torbjörn, but she saw no other way. She didn't know if he was testing her or not. Lena wasn't going to tell him that she intended to save Amélie or die trying simply because she didn't know which side of the aisle he was on...

Torbjörn replied.

 _And you're still going to kill her? I thought you unofficially loved her... Tut, tut, Lena; I thought Overwatch taught you better than to let petty revenge cloud your judgement..._

If this was a trap, Torbjörn was skillfully baiting it...

 _What would you say if I told you hypothetically that I want to help her? Which isn't true._

At that, Torbjörn knew exactly the lay of the land. He shut his holo-vid off...

"I see. Can't say I'm ashamed of you, Lena. All the luck..." he said with a grin.

* * *

An hour later, they were in London. Hailing Torbjörn one more time, Lena had a question for him.

"What about the recall?"

"I'm coming home, don't you worry about that. I've wanted to see how the old family is... ah, erhm Lena? Where are they again?"

Lena smiled at that. How like Torbjörn.

"About sixty miles from my King's Row home. Look Torb, don't say anything about Amélie to Overwatch, will ya? They've told me to deal with Widowmaker, they don't know how I'm planning to do it. And they'd never believe it's her."

"I won't say anything. For now... But what happens if they find out that you knew and you didn't tell them? Have you thought this through, or are you going rogue?"

"Whatever it takes."

"I see. As I said on the plane; all the luck, Lena. All the luck..."

"I'm going home to rest for a few days. Tell the crew, will ya?"

"Ay lass, I'll do that."

* * *

Returning home, Lena opened up the program she acquired at the Talon base on her holo-vid. Checking on Widowmaker's current activities, she was relieved to find that she was still asleep. Changing out of her civilian clothes, she changed into her Overwatch standard. Grabbing her holo-vid, she stuffed it into the left pocket of her RAF bomber jacket. She also grabbed pictures of Amélie and Gerard, and Overwatch pictures that Amélie had been a part of. Grabbing her Pulse pistols, she tucked them into her gauntlets and made to depart. Blinking and sprinting to her destination, it took about twenty minutes time for her to arrive at Widowmaker's safehouse. Looking around, she couldn't find a ladder. She was heading over to the door in the front when she noticed a small air-conditioning unit that was scheduled to be picked up and repaired. Jumping atop it, she started climbing from ledge to ledge. A minute later, she was atop the building. Thank goodness it was flat, and not arched. Looking around, she noticed a trap door about five feet in front of her.

 _Now would definitely be a good time to hash out a plan._ Lena thought.

A minute later, she arrived at a plan; checking the program on her holo-vid, she found that Amélie was grabbing her rifle, and heading up. So much for her plan, she needed to get out of sight.

And yet, she couldn't move. The trap door opened, and Widowmaker sprang out like a nimble spider. Terrifyingly striking really. Lena thought.

Widowmaker turned around to close the hatch when she noticed Tracer standing there. Faster than a charging cheetah, she straightened up and, kicking the trap door down, grabbed her rifle and started to shoot at Tracer, who blinked behind Widowmaker and, hitting the Widow's Kiss out of her hands, got Amélie in a headgrip. "Think Amélie, try to remember! It's me Lena! I'm not your enemy-"

Widowmaker twisted out of Tracer's grip and, catching her hands, twisted her over. Grabbing the knife in the satchel at her hip, she lost grip of Tracer, who blinked away. Tracer blinked forward and kicked Widowmaker's knee. Widowmaker backflipped safely away only to find Tracer right behind her again. This time, there would be no escape; Tracer had her in yet another headgrip, and was going for the knockout blow. "I mean you no harm, but if you don't talk to me, I can't help you! Talon took your life away from you and forced you to be their weapon. Gerard loved you, he wanted you to be happy! Remember him please!"

Gasping and struggling for breath, Widowmaker spat.

"You are-an enemy of Talon. I'll kill you if-if it's the last thing I do."

Widowmaker fell limp.

Lena Oxton released her grip and sighed. Hoisting Amélie up onto her shoulders into a fireman's carry, she started blinking from roof to roof.

Forty minutes later, she had traveled the thirty miles. Amélie had stirred several times, but she never woke, which was fortunate, because it allowed Lena to get her to her home. Laying Widowmaker down on the bed, she seized her weapons and knife and placed them on the floor next to the sofa where she was sitting.

Amélie stirred...


	5. To Speak with an Assassin

Widowmaker awoke to silence broken only by breathing, and a fan on the ceiling. Looking up at the fan, she didn't recognize it. That was when yesterday's fight came back to her. Bolting up, she was pushed back down by Tracer.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I don't even have my pulse pistols. Hear me out Amélie!"

"I will kill you, _cavalier du temps_!"

Lena sighed. She was doing this...

"Give me twenty minutes to talk to you, then you can kill me."

" _Oui_ , I will wait twenty minutes, but no more."

Grabbing a picture from her jacket pocket, Lena noticed Widowmaker reaching in her left pocket.

"Don't think I didn't take all your guns, luv. Honestly, world-renowned assassin or no, who needs three guns and a knife?"

Widowmaker sighed.

Lena showed Amélie the picture. It was a picture of Amélie and Gerard on a boat. Rowing across a lake near Annecy.

"Do you remember this? Do you remember anything about this?"

"They- they were on vacation, oui?"

"Correct. Do you remember their names?"

"Non."

Lena sighed. This was going to be difficult.

"Lacroix. Does that name ring any bells to you?"

"Gerard. I remember the word Gerard. Hate; festering hatred. She hated him?"

"He loved her. Do you remember her name?"

"A-Amélie?"

"Correct."

"So, I was her?"

"My name is Amélie Lacroix?"

"Correct, keep going."

"Didn't he die?"

"Correct. Talon-"

"What does Talon have to do with this?" Amélie demanded. This was dangerous territory, Lena realized. Widowmaker was getting awful defensive of Talon all of a sudden. _I'll need to tread lightly,_ Lena thought.

"What do you remember about this?" Lena asked, pointing at her Chronal Accelerator.

"You move faster because of it. It makes you a more effective agent of Overwatch."

"But that's not all it does. Do you remember what happened to me?"

"I see a fighter jet. Something about a-an accident?"

"Correct again. Keep going!" Lena was excited that Widowmaker remembered this much! Slowly but surely, Lena was confident that she could draw Amélie out of her shell and bring her back...

"I don't remember anything else..."

Widowmaker looked at the clock. It had been fifteen minutes.

Looking back, she saw Tracer sobbing...

"Why are you crying?" Widowmaker asked. She felt something. _Concern? Empathy?_

"Do you remember my name?"

"Lena Oxton. You are twenty-six."

"Amélie, I'm begging you, remember! I loved you! But then I faded through time. I saw you sobbing for me; I tried to speak to you, but you didn't hear me!"

"I-I remember something about 'Chronal Dissociation'. You weren't dead, but you weren't alive. Amélie mourned for you... And then something happened to her."

"Yes! Yes luv, something did happen to her! Talon took her and broke her. They made her their sleeper agent. You were missing for two weeks! And then you were back. None the worse for your ordeal, or that's what we all believed. Gerard was so happy to have you back. But he knew something was wrong. You walked as if in a daze. You-"

Here Lena could not continue for she broke into renewed sobbing...

"You killed him. He loved you so much. And you KILLED HIM!"

Lena blinked to the kitchen to grab one of her pulse pistols. Blinking back to the bedroom, where Amélie was still sitting on the bed. She grabbed Amélie by the throat and put her gun to Amélie's head.

"You fucking killed him!"

"He l-loved me? Amélie thought that she would only be safe when he was dead."

Lena removed her pulse pistol from Amélie's temple. Throwing it on the floor, she clutched Amélie tightly.

"What did Talon do to you?"

"Lena I,- non. Non! Nonononon! This can't be! _merde, merde, merde!_ Why me? I never wanted to..."

Lena was shocked when she realized that Amélie _WAS SOBBING_. Wasn't she supposed to be emotionless?

"What? What is it Amélie? Are you alright?"

"I remember more and more. Talon took me! They made me kill him. I loved him too much, so they replaced my love with hate. They tortured me, and told me Gerard ordered it. They used his voice. It felt so real!"

"That's right, luv! You're remembering!"

"I am?"

Lena felt Amélie wrap her arms around her.

"Cherie, I'm so sorry. _Gerard. Ana. Mondatta._ I'm so, so sorry!"

Amélie broke down in sobs.

"What are we going to do, Lena? Talon will hunt for me; I'm their deadliest weapon."

"We can't go to Overwatch. They'd never welcome you; they'd think it was a plot by Talon. We have to run. Maybe they can take Talon down and then we won't have to hide. I'm more than content to let them do the fighting if it means I can make damn sure you're bloody safe!"

"We'd still have to hide from Overwatch."

"Sombra could help us do that."

At the mention of Sombra, Amélie became suspicious

"How do you know about her? You speak as if you've met her..."

 _Explanation time..._ Lena thought.

"I ran into her in a hardware store in Zurich a couple days ago. I was getting ready to hit the Talon base nearabouts to there when she told me Talon sent you to kill me. She told me you were in King's Row. She almost killed me in her desire to protect you..."

"Sombra wanted to protect me." Widowmaker said in disbelief.

"She knows what they did to you Amélie, luv. She helped me when I was raiding the base."

"Oui? Anyways, Talon will be here soon, as I haven't reported back."

"Could you stall them?"

"They'll think I need to be memory-wiped again."

"I won't let them! Listen luv, Sombra told me to get you to Overwatch and 'hooked up to a brain scan machine'. She said she might be able to trigger your memories of Amélie and Gerard, and erase your Talon memories. We already covered most of the first point, which brings me to the second reason for getting you to Overwatch. Do you want to forget Talon and go back to a normal life, or do you wish to keep your skills?"

"Keep my skills, of course. I may need them again someday."

"Alright. So, when do we go? We'll have to sneak in to Overwatch's Watchpoint near King's Row, so at night?"

Amélie made a humming noise in agreement.

Lena sighed. She had brought Amélie mostly to the fore. But there was still more to be done. There were memories that Amélie did not have, and that Lena could not give back to her. She needed Sombra to help her with that. Even then Lena felt it was wrong that Amélie should be forced to bear the scars of what Talon did to her, but she wanted it. There would be that comfort of familiarity in it for Amélie, Lena supposed. But still, never able to live a quiet life, always analyzing people. And for what, to see if they were threats? A hard way to live. One that Amélie wanted, and by all the stars in the sky, Lena knew she was damn well going to stay by her side.

She would always stay by Amélie's side...


	6. Um, The Cavalry's Here?

It had been one week since Tekartha Mondatta's assassination, and Lena, Amélie, and Sombra were finally raiding the Overwatch Watchpoint in King's Row. Because Reaper had raided the Gibraltar base, the senior leadership of the recalled Overwatch-Winston, Jack, Angela and Reinhardt-all agreed that it would be prudent to move to a different Watchpoint, and the King's Row base was set up shortly before the fall of Overwatch, so Reaper wouldn't know where they were operating from. It had been easy enough for Lena Oxton to get inside, being a bona fide agent of Overwatch. Sombra and Widowmaker had snuck in through the back door and were taking their time to get to the medical quarter undetected.

Tracer was just acting as if all was normal, but she was on a dishonest errand, so her heart beat faster than it ever had. If Amélie died here, Sombra was here, and would waste no time killing her for failing to keep Amélie safe. And she would have failed Gerard if it came to that point.

Lena walked into the mess hall and picked up some dinner. She received some questioning looks along the way from the younger recruits, but she had a cover story for why she was here now, but not earlier in the day, when they doubtless convened, assigned missions and such like. She was at home resting so she could take down Widowmaker. Not like she'd ever tell how. She ran into Torbjörn in the hall as well. They said no word, just nodded. And when Lena passed by him, Torbjörn passed her a slip of paper with a question.

 _Is Widowmaker here? If so, you better hope you can keep her safe, cause the old crew is ALL here. I'll try to set up some card games or something, but it's up to you to get Ange to medical to operate on Amélie._

Lena nodded to Torbjörn and pressed on.

Reaching the medical quarter, she saw several machines. Looking around, she spotted a brain-scan machine. Angela however, was sitting at her desk a couple of rooms over, looking over some papers with a coffee and bagel in her left hand, and the papers in her right. Lena struck up conversation, trying to find a way she could get Ange into the operating room next door. Thinking for a moment, she had an idea...

"Oy Ange, I seem to have injured myself in a fight with the Widowmaker; I killed her, but not before she got a bloody bullet into my shoulder."

Lena didn't like lying to Ange, but, as she thought about it, it wasn't really a lie. Sure Amélie might have a panic attack at random brain impulses, but for the most part, the Widowmaker was dead, and that was all the technicality Lena needed to lie with a straight face.

Angela stood up, beckoning Lena, started walking over to the machines and surgical tools.

"So you killed her?"

"Yup; this will be a major setback for Talon!"

"I'm glad for you. You have avenged Mondatta. I imagine you'll sleep soundly at night now, ja?"

"That's correct; no more middle of the night doctorly visits for sedation, luv!"

"A weight off my mind to say the least."

Lena deactivated her comm unit, and then reactivated it.

The go-time signal...

Angela didn't notice; she halted when they reached the operating room.

"On a level of one to ten, what is your pain?"

"Ahm, one!"

Angela looked at Lena's shoulder.

"There's nothing here!" She exclaimed.

Lena drew her pulse pistols and, aiming at Angela, set the stage for Widowmaker and Sombra to enter the room.

"That's correct; the real operation is for Amélie here. Scream and you're dead."

"Tell me this, Lena Oxton. How does she need an operation if she's dead?"

Amélie Lacroix entered the room. Turning the air too cold for Angela to breathe. Here she was, a living ghost. Trailing behind her by a few feet was Sombra, the Hispanic master hacker.

 _This can't be. Talon killed Amélie and Gerard!_ Angela thought.

"You see, She's managed to get back her memories, or most of them. Her days at Talon are done, and I can finally fulfill my oath."

"What oath?"

"To keep Amélie safe, and protect her from danger. When you think about it a second time, I'm sure you'll realize that I swore this oath on Gerard's grave."

"Then what is Sombra doing here?"

"She's here to help with the operation to bring back all of Amélie's memories. The procedure you're going to carry out."

Angela complied.

 _Lena thinks I'll just roll over and bark? Not a chance..._ Angela thought.

An hour later, Amélie was still asleep, but the operation was done. Sombra hadn't left yet; wanting to make sure Amélie was safe. Angela sighed. Not only had they restored Amélie's memories, they disabled the implant in her central nervous system that Talon had designed so they could trigger seventy-two hour paralysis in their prized weapon and activate a tracker. A fail-safe to allow for recovery and mind-wipe of their weapon if they thought she was going AWOL.

Lena didn't notice anything at first. It was only when she looked at Amélie that she noticed. Amélie's breathing became less and less frequent. Lena was looking when Amélie breathed her final breath.

Sombra noticed too... Drawing her submachine gun, she aimed it at Tracer. Lena knew damn well that Sombra would shoot any moment now, so she seized her chance.

"Wait! She's not permanently dead; Angela can bring her back with her Valkyrie suit!" Turning around, Lena looked at Angela only to be blown away by what she said next.

"I'll never tell you where it is. That woman is an enemy of the world. Think Lena; 100 plus confirmed kills. People that Talon didn't want alive. A damned terrorist organization who had Mondatta killed because he wanted peace between Omnics and Humans!"

Sombra leveled an ultimatum at Lena.

"If this doesn't work, I'll make good on my promise to kill you."

"If Amélie dies, then you'll have every right to kill me. Just as we agreed."

Sombra left the room and returned a minute later.

"Found it."

Sombra hastily placed Angela Ziegler's Valkyrie suit on the table and tried speaking the activation phrase; "Heroes never die!" Nothing happened. Now Sombra was getting more and more hasty. Every minute that transpired was one less minute in the window between death and total brain death; the chances for Amélie's survival were falling rapidly. Hacking the voice recognition computer, she didn't notice Angela drawing her Caduceus Blaster.

Lena did. Drawing her pulse pistols in the blink of an eye, she shot both of Angela's hands. Now she couldn't shoot.

"I'll not let Amélie die because of you!" Lena yelled.

Sombra looked back momentarily. Seeing small scorch marks in Angela's hands, she understood. Looking back, she returned to hacking the machine.

In came Soldier: 76...

"What the hell's going on here?!"

Lena blinked over and shot him in the knees. He fell to the ground.

Lena crouched next to him and shot his hands.

"Stay out of this, Jack. Amélie's broken the conditioning, and Talon will never get their pet assassin back. If you come for her, I'll do what I have to do."

Sombra finished the hack and again, spoke the activation phrase.

"Heroes never die!"

A small AI voice spoke:

 _"Command acknowledged, Angela Ziegler; releasing Nanoprobe Swarm."_

The probes flowed like water to Amélie's body. Working their restorative power on Amélie's corpse, she shot back up; alive again...

Lena grabbed her and hugged her tight.

Sombra grabbed the Caduceus staff from Angela's Valkyrie suit and tossed it to her.

Speaking to Lena, Sombra reminded her of the conditions of the deal.

"Amélie will live, and now, so will you. But if she ever dies of any cause other than old age, I'll find you and kill you."

"Thanks for your help, Sombra, luv!" Lena replied; ignoring the death-threat that Sombra had already delivered once before.

Sombra hacked into the base security systems and set an alarm timer for five minutes. Starting it, she cloaked and ran off.

Lena set Amélie on her feet and they ran; their mission accomplished.

Arriving back at Amélie's safe house shortly thereafter, Amélie collapsed on the bed in her exhaustion. Moments later, she was out.

Lena grabbed a blanket and laid it over Amélie Lacroix, who lay peacefully sleeping.

A half hour later, Lena Oxton was still awake. Sitting on the sofa and trying to sleep, she heard Amélie's quiet breathing. Falling asleep, she was out stone cold when Amélie woke up twenty minutes later.

Amélie awoke to find Lena Oxton laying down beside her. Peacefully snoring, with her brown hair a dishevelled mess. Amélie saw Lena and only felt hatred. Getting up, she walked over to the balcony of their home, and breathed deep of the cold, crisp night air. She heard howling as nearby wolves sang the songs of their eerie, yet frighteningly beautiful laments for the the moon to hear. Looking to her right, she saw a panther on the balcony, nosing it's way over to Lena, who was unaware of her danger. Amélie followed it. Reaching the sleeping woman, the panther raised its paw and placed it on her throat. Lena mumbled and rolled slightly. The panther looked back at Amélie, and she heard the disembodied voice of Reaper.

 _You are a killer._

 _You think she loves you? Think again, you have no room for love in your beating heart; you are the perfect weapon. A remorseless, silent trained assassin lying still in wait. Eager for the time to strike. To rend and kill; their blood is your life._

Amélie's vision changed and she walked down dark corridors in what could only be Overwatch headquarters. She heard disembodied voices.

Jack Morrison, or the vigilante known to the world as Soldier: 76.

 _"Why didn't you fight Talon? Why did you kill Gerard? He taught you how to use guns to defend yourself, and yet, when push came to shove, there was only one bullet fired. The bullet that killed him."_

Ana Amari, dead to the world came alive again to speak in her ear.

 _"You took my eye. You've killed so many good people. Talon may have fucked up your mind, but the people you killed were not as evil as Talon would manipulate you to believe. They were good men and women; people with families."_

The Overwatch army doctor; Mercy.

 _"Why did you kill Lena? She only tried to give you a choice."_

Amélie Lacroix, formerly dead.

 _"Damn it, Widowmaker! She was trying to help us! Trying to make sure you didn't have to kill anyone. No more, I beg you!"_

Widowmaker shouted in reply

 _"I exist to kill!"_

The panther dissipated into a cloud of black smoke. Reaper materialized; handing her one of his Hellfire shotguns.

 _Prove it. End her and come back to your family._

Widowmaker slapped the shotgun away, drew her Widow's Kiss and shot Lena Oxton in the face at point blank range.

Amélie bolted up in a cold sweat. Looking around to her right, she saw Lena asleep, but alive. She threw off the blanket and sat on the floor close to Lena, who didn't hear the noise. Amélie wept bitterly. Lena was in danger! For as long as Lena stayed with her, Amélie knew that she would be in danger. She stood up, ready to leave at that very moment. That was when she heard Lena mumble in her sleep;

"Wait! Don't go, Widowmaker, I can help you!"

 _So she's dreaming of our encounter in King's Row?_ Amélie thought. Amélie had heard somewhere before that the subconscious mind could be stimulated, and now was as good a time as any to try it herself.

Amélie knelt on the ground. She wanted to know why Lena was willing to risk her life to help her. What was her endgame?

Whispering in Lena's ear, she voiced a question, trying to simulate a conversation between Tracer and Widowmaker, and see behind Lena's words to discern the truth.

 _"Why would I stay?"_

"Because I've missed you!"

 _"I do not care about your feelings! I have people to kill."_

"Wait! That's just the thing luv, you don't have to kill anymore! I can help you."

 _"What do you expect in return?"_

"Nothing! I want Amélie Lacroix to have her turn in the sun. Not this heartless assassin bitch that Talon made out of you! There's so much more to life, just waiting for you to experience it!"

 _"You loved her, did you not?"_

"Yes, I did. I loved Amélie, but she's gone. It was a one way street, but I still love her."

 _"If I stay, will I be safe? Talon will come for me, and so will Overwatch, if they find out."_

"Yes! Yes luv, I'll keep you safe. If Overwatch comes for you. I'll kill them if I have to."

When Amélie heard Lena say that, she wept and wrapped her arms around Lena. Lena awoke and saw Amélie.

And saw the tears she wept.

"Amélie luv, what's wrong? Are you alright? Why are you crying?"

Amélie's weeping increased in intensity when she heard the genuine concern in Lena's voice.

"Because you care! I don't deserve your help, and yet you relentlessly pursued me, and helped me. And now, in all my gratitude, I dreamed of killing you! As long as I'm here, you're in danger! I want your help, but I don't want you to be in danger. I have to leave, I have to-"

Lena interrupted Amélie's monologue by pulling her close. So close that Amélie's head lay nestled in the crook of Lena's neck.

"Shh, luv. Just cry. Let out your sorrows; I'm here, and I'll never abandon you. Talon will never get their hands on you again; I'll keep you safe. Sometimes one needs to take a time out and vent. Just relieve your grief, and I'll wait for you."

So saying, Lena started gently rocking Amélie. Hoping that the combination of crying and soothing motion might make Amélie fall asleep.

The comfort that Lena brought her by so simple an act as a hug and cradling made Amélie feel like she wasn't some _THING_ who lived to kill. Like she might belong somewhere in this cold world. Still crying, she felt herself slip through the cracks of consciousness.

" _Merci_ , Lena. _Je t'aime de tout mon couer_." She murmured.

At that, Lena's heart sank. She knew a little bit of French, just enough to make it out as "I love you with all my heart."

Lena may have loved Amélie Lacroix before, but she didn't think she could love what Amélie had become. And yet, how would Amélie take Lena judging her for Widowmaker's kills, and why should she judge her for them anyway? They weren't her fault!

Lena stood up and cradled Amélie in her arms. Walking over to the bed, she laid her down so she could sleep. Lena hadn't even walked two paces when Amélie started tossing and turning. Lena sighed and, picking Amélie up again, walked over to the sofa and sat down. Sure enough, Amélie calmed. Yawning, Lena resigned herself to staying in this uncomfortable position so that Amélie could sleep without nightmares. It would probably cost her any sleep she might have been able to get, but Amélie wouldn't sleep otherwise, it seemed. It was going to be a long night...


	7. Your sorrows become mine

Lena awoke at 4:00 PM to find Amélie still curled up in her arms. Asleep, and at peace. Untormented by the demons of her nightmares.

Feeling about halfway between tired and rested, Lena set Amélie down, and then got up; careful not to wake her.

" _Bonjour, cherie._ "

 _It didn't work. Of course she woke up..._ Lena thought.

Lena smiled and tiredly replied.

"Mornin' luv. How's you?"

Amélie stood straight; reaching every inch of 5'9" as she stretched her tired limbs.

"I've been better, but I'm doing well."

"Good to hear. When you started crying last night, I had to rock you to sleep, as you wouldn't sleep otherwise; I laid you down on the bed, and then you started tossing and turning moments later. So I ended up cradling you all bloody night! I didn't get much sleep at all."

Amélie smiled at the irony.

Disregarding the desire to reply something witty to Tracer's statement, Amélie had a question.

"So what now? I've got my memories, and I don't feel like sitting back while those Talon bastards are still around."

Here Amélie broke into fluent French. Cursing Talon and calling them sons of bitches among other things.

Lena smiled at Amélie's vigor, but she had a couple of things to bring to her attention.

Addressing each point separately and carefully, Lena began.

"I like that you're ready to fight them and kill them all, but what if Reaper is there? What if they're of a mind to recapture their prized weapon? They'll undoubtedly try it; they've probably spent a good deal of money on creating the Widowmaker, and they probably consider you as their property. The bastards have yet to learn the meaning of the saying 'It's my life, not yours!'..."

"I've a mind to tell them soon. I know quite a bit about their ops, and if they haven't already evacuated their bases out of fear that I've defected, I've a mind to hit a few of them. With your help of course; I won't try this on my own, cherie."

"Wait, hold on a minute, there's got to be a better way than that. Maybe we could tip off Overwatch to their locations. They've got a much better strike team than we do. They'd make bangers and mash out of Talon before I could say 'Bob's your uncle!'. I think that has to be better than raiding those bases ourselves."

"Do they even know about me? Aside from the doctor?"

"Yes, Angela and Torbjörn know your true identity. Other than you and me, only Torbjörn and Sombra know that you've broken free of Talon's grasp. Sombra told me that she'd tell Talon you'd been killed, and I told Morrison that you've broken free of the programming, but we'll see whether he believes me."

"Who is this Torbjörn, _cherie_?"

"He's their Chief Engineer, or he was back when I was a cadet."

"I see."

"Amélie, we need to talk."

" _Oui?_ "

"You..."

Here Lena paused to think about how best to deliver this bombshell...

"You need to find someone else."

Amélie understood what she was saying, but she didn't let it on. Feigning ignorance, she replied.

"What are you talking about, _cherie_?"

"Love someone else; when you were weeping last night, you said that you loved me with all your heart. I can't be the one for you."

"Nonsense, you complete me, and I think the reverse is true as well."

"Bollocks! I've got a steady girl!"

This was not true; about six months ago, Lena broke up with Emily because she wanted Lena to focus exclusively on their relationship; she asked her to stop being Tracer and just be Lena Oxton. Obviously it was time to move on when that came to light. Lena didn't want to love Amélie because she wasn't the same as before. The Amélie that Lena used to know would never return. She had ceased to exist the second she was tainted by the Widowmaker. Lena didn't want to tell Amélie that she was judging her for Widowmaker's kills, but how could she allow herself to love someone who had taken so many lives?

"Lena, think for a moment about what you're asking me to do. Let me put you in my place, and run this by you as a hypothetical. Suppose you were kidnapped by a terrorist organization, forced to kill your own husband and easily a hundred people besides him. Your biggest rival tries to help you shake off the programming, puts herself in danger just to try to help you remember, and then says love someone else. Who else could possibly understand you like she does? Who could tolerate you? Your kills would turn a good many people away who might have understood you otherwise!"

"I understand, but how can I let myself love you? The Amélie I knew no longer exists! You have to find someone else!"

"No, no. No, fuck you! You can't ask that of me! Who else could love me? Who else could understand me like you? Have you ever thought about this from MY perspective, Lena?"

Amélie had a point, and Lena knew it. This was rather more complicated when viewed from Amélie's side.

"Fine, be that way!"

Amélie stalked into the kitchen. It was the last thing Lena expected when Amélie walked back out moments later with a knife in her hands, holding it at her own throat.

Lena screamed, worried out of her mind that Amélie would make the incision.

"Woah-woah-woah! Amélie, nothing drastic now!" So saying Lena held her hands open to her sides at head level.

Amélie smiled a bitter smile. She was determined it would be her last. She was about to end it all when Tracer spoke.

"Wait, don't do it! You've got-"

"-So much to live for?" The sardonic reply took Lena off guard.

"How is that the case, if the only one who could possibly understand what I'm going through is telling me to fuck off?! I want to be understood, not by some stranger who only cares to listen because I pay him some fucking money! Is that too much to ask? No. I don't have anything to live for, and when I'm dead, neither will you; Sombra will hunt you down. Our fates our intertwined, Lena. This is a one way street, and one we're both going to-."

Lena had an idea. Blinking over to Amélie, she snatched the knife out of her hands as she tackled her. Interrupting her little monologue, and disarming her. She held Amélie in a tight headlock to immobilize her with a hand around her mouth and nose to knock her out. _If that was Widowmaker, she would never have fallen for that!_ Lena thought.

One thing was sure, Amélie was right when she said their two fates were intertwined.

Lena shushed Amélie, who looked up at her as if she had just been betrayed.

Amélie fell limp. Laying her down on the sofa, Lena set to work with stage two of her plan. Cleaning up the room; she pushed aside the carpet and, heading off to the kitchen, she grabbed a mop, and cleaned the floor. Moving stuff away, she started looking for a stereo. Finding one three minutes later in the basement, she was relieved to find that it was an older model; with manual input required. Finding an auxiliary cable already attached to the speaker system, she plugged up her terminal to the stereo system. Finding music dated from before the turn of the twenty-first century was nearly impossible these days, but she had already gotten copies of the music she desperately needed at the moment. That was all before the shutdown of the Internet anyway. Setting the music to play, she was relieved to hear soft melodious strains of music wafting around the room rather loudly.

* * *

Amélie awoke to find Lena sitting down right next to her. Lena had a wistful smile on her face. Just like earlier, except this time, there were no knives to be found anywhere.

"Amélie luv, I understand your feelings, but I think you and I wouldn't work out so well. In your past life, you were an accomplished ballerina, so I set this all up for you to dance and let go of your grief."

Amélie smiled at Lena's simplicity. Then again, Slipstream accident or no, she had never been through something quite as tragic and life-shattering as had Amélie.

Standing to her feet, Amélie was well aware of Lena's watchful eyes. Assessing the likelihood of another suicide attempt and observing her closely.

Amélie began to say something, only to pause, stop, and try again.

"Lena, I'm aware of what I did, and I must apologize, I acted out of despair. _Je suis desolee_."

Lena smiled. "Despair is a natural thing. I think if you were to dance, it might clear your mind of sorrow."

Amélie smiled and complied. Dancing, she twirled and performed a pirouette. Dancing for a short length of time, she felt better almost right away. Still she danced, and still Lena watched closely.

The music in the background reached a particularly melancholy interlude. Wafting strains of passion playing like a melody from heaven.

* * *

Amélie had danced for an hour, still in her Talon bodysuit. The sun was setting and Lena was still watching, but she had tears on her face. When Amélie sat down out of exhaustion, Lena sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry, Amélie. I'm sorry for _SO MUCH_! I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you when you needed help. I'm sorry Overwatch didn't do enough to find you before Talon made the Widowmaker. I'm sorry above all for what could have been between you and I. When you married Gerard, I accepted it. I accepted without complaint because I knew you'd be happier with him than me. What could have been then can never happen now, and for that I'm sorry."

"It was never in your hands."

"Widowmaker's kills are all that stand in between you and I. I wish it wasn't this way, but the Amélie I knew died when Widowmaker first existed."

"Wait a moment, you're judging me for the murders that I didn't even want to commit, ouis?"

S _hit, I let it slip..._ Lena thought.

"No, but-"

Well, that actually kinda was why Lena didn't want to love Amélie; she had blood on her hands because of Widowmaker.

"Yes, you are!"

Amélie stood and backed away from Lena.

Lena also stood and walked closer to Amélie, trying to talk to her and defuse the situation before it blew up in her face. She didn't get far before Amélie backhanded her in the face with a hell of a lot of force. Too late; it exploded.

"How can you consider your judgement fair if you let that stand unchecked?"

Lena blinked twice and felt her cheek. That definitely was like Amélie, and Lena knew it.

"That's exactly what Amélie would have done." Lena said with a hint of unshed tears in her eyes. Rushing Amélie, Lena grabbed her by the shoulders and spoke her laments as if the woman standing before her was nothing more than a ghost assuming the disguise of her friend.

"Come back, Amélie, please! I loved you so much, and now you're not here; it isn't fair! It-"

Amélie, in an ironic twist of situations, pulled Lena closer until her head rested in the crook between Amélie's shoulder and neck. Remembering what her mother used to do whenever she wept as a girl, Amélie stroked Lena's hair and hugged her close.

Amélie pushed Lena by her shoulders until they stood at arm's length from each other and spoke her mind to Lena.

 _"Lena cherie, je suis ici, et je t'aime de tout mon coeur. S'il vous plait m'aimer en retour; tu es si belle pour moi."_

"Amélie, I want to; I want to so badly, but I can't. I could never live with myself if-"

Amélie released her grip on Lena's left shoulder, and placed an index finger on her lips; shushing her.

"-If you ever let me come to harm." Amélie interjected. She knew what Lena was going to say, so she replaced it with something else. Call it selfish love, but Amélie knew she needed Lena to be there for her. Amélie needed Lena to reply the love she felt for her. She pulled her back into the hug and wrapped her right arm around her again.

Amélie remembered Lena shushing her yesterday, and smiled at the irony.

Amélie was still holding Lena when she felt her physically surrender; her whole body went limp, and she relaxed in Amélie's embrace.

"Can you promise me categorically that you'll never try to kill yourself again, Amélie? You mean so much to me; you're quite literally my lifeline."

"mh? _Oui_ , I promise."


	8. De chagrin, beaucoup de bonheur

Amélie broke the embrace they shared and smiled a genuine, heartfelt smile at Lena. Gold eyes shining with heated passion; rather like twin suns. Lena smiled weakly in reply.

 _"Je t'aime."_ Amélie purred to Lena Oxton.

"I love you too." Lena said to Amélie Lacroix.

The moment Amélie heard those words fall from Lena's lips, she felt light-headed; it seemed as if she was born under a lucky star. Taking Lena's hands, she rapidly released her left hand and led Lena through a simple ballet twirl, only to take her left hand again and pull her in for a quick kiss on the lips.

When their lips parted moments later, Amélie felt like she was strong enough to begin the new day with courage. That was when Sombra appeared, putting in her two cents.

"Should I call you Amélie Lacroix, or Amélie Oxton?" She said with a smile.

"Lacroix. Amélie and Lena Lacroix, luv." Lena piped in.

At this Amélie shot a significant look at Lena.

 _Are you sure about this, Lena?_

 _I'm sure, luv._

Their soundless conversation was done, and Amélie smiled gratefully at Lena, who smiled back just as sincerely.

"Cheers luv!" Sombra teasingly said.

"Oi, that's my line!" Lena said, annoyed. Ultimately she didn't mind it too much, considering Sombra saved Amélie's life, and was apparently a Tracer fan from back in the day.

"So whatcha doing here, Sombra?"

Pulling what looked like at first glance like a rolling pin from her pack, she swung out to it to her right side, and a staff unfolded that possessed a remarkable similarity in design to that of Angela's Caduceus staff. Lena could only guess what Sombra was going to say it was.

"So, when I hacked the voice-recognition protocols on your Mercy's Valkyrie suit, I erhm, 'accidentally' got a look at the programming, and replicated it when I got back to Talon HQ. I used some of their resources to build this staff, before erasing the schematics from their database. I figured if Angela Ziegler doesn't want to help Amélie, I'd take the designs of her suit and staff, and condense it into one gadget!"

Tossing the staff to Lena, she continued.

"There's enough nano-probes in there to resurrect Amélie once, but then it needs to recharge and regenerate nano-probes for three hours. Also, you don't have to say 'heroes never die'. Please use it at barest necessity only, amiga."

"We will. Thanks a ton, Sombra!"

"Also, I listed Amélie Lacroix KIA in Talon's database, and dummied up the necessary evidence. You two are free to live your lives as you want."

 _"Merci beaucoup,_ Sombra _."_ Amélie said primly.

"See you later!" Sombra said.

Vanishing from sight, the Hispanic hacker sprinted outside. That was when she saw Reaper standing right outside, just about to enter the building. Decloaking, she was curious why he was here.

" _Olah_ , Gabe! What brings you here to London?"

"I've come to see Widowmaker."

"Why's that?" Sombra said, still standing in the doorway.

"None of your business. Now get out of my way, Sombra."

"Fine. If that's how you want to play, then you better stay out of my way, _Sombra_ ; I haven't forgotten Volskaya. You let her get away, and If I were to mention you in connection with the failure of the mission, I'd have to tell them everything I know about it. Of course, that would have to include your black-mailing her. And I doubt Talon would look kindly upon you for much longer if that came to their attention."

Sombra blanched and stood aside.

Entering his Wraith form, Reaper slithered under the door like a snake, tendrils of smoke wafting around as he did so. He felt torn apart every time he entered and left that accursed state of being. Drawing his shotguns, he walked around the corner and saw Amélie and Lena sitting on the sofa talking casually. This more than anything told him that Amélie had re-asserted herself, and Widowmaker was no more.

Amélie and Tracer saw him and bolted up. Lena drew her pulse pistols and aimed them at Reaper just as fast as he aimed his Hellfire Shotguns at her. Holding this Mexican stand-off for a few moments, Gabriel dropped his weapons. Playing dumb, he wanted to figure out for sure whether he was talking to Talon's top assassin, or Amélie Lacroix, the beautiful ballet dancer.

"Widowmaker, would you care to explain what Tracer is doing here?"

Amélie had two choices; to try and bluff, or to come clean.

First she had to find out his intentions.

"Why does it matter to you, Reaper?"

"I just thought I'd swing by and congratulate you on your return, Amélie Lacroix." He poked, trying to find out for sure what was what with Amélie.

"Amélie is dead!" She hissed, trying to bluff her way out of it.

"If that's so, then you'll follow me out of here for our new mission, following Tracer's execution. Her death would be a great boon to Talon."

"I will kill her in my own time! _Casse-toi!_ "

"I didn't think so. Amélie was a beautiful woman, and the pride of the base; most certainly Gerard. But she always was a terrible liar with no poker face. You know, even to this day I wish Talon had never gotten their hands on you for their sick experiments."

Turning around, Reaper walked toward the exit, but not before Tracer blinked in front of him.

"Wait a minute, we've got some more to talk about before you leave so willy-nilly! How did you know Amélie was here?!"

"Why should I tell you? You can't even kill me; I dare you to try..."

Lena ignored that taunt in favor of asking her next question.

"How did you know her?!"

"How did you know me, Reaper?!" Amélie thundered.

Reaper tried to raise his hands to his head, but Lena shot him; thinking he was going for his weapons. She and Amélie watched in horror as Reaper disintegrated into a cloud of black smoke that scattered and writhed all over the safehouse.

"Because my name is Gabriel Reyes." He said through the smoke. Reforming his body, he stood and removed his mask, exposing the face that gave Ana Amari a heart-attack.

Lena found it hard to believe that the hideous, scarred and rotted face she saw before her was once Gabriel Reyes, but when it came down to it, she believed it.

"Gabriel! What happened? You used to be Blackwatch; how could you let yourself go from Blackwatch commander to mercenary thug for a fucking terrorist organization?" Amélie demanded.

"When Angela 'saved me', she made me into this monster. Now, death can not hold me; Killing is the only way I can stay alive."

"Duly noted, Mr. Grim Reaper. All that aside. how can we be sure that you won't give up Amélie here to Talon for reconditioning?"

"Because Talon thinks Amélie is dead. Sombra and I had roles in bringing that to bear. I have a vested interest in you retaining your desires and memories, Amélie."

" _Merci_ , Gabriel _mon ami_." Amélie said gratefully.

Turning to Tracer, Reaper spoke.

"Keep Amélie as happy as Gerard did, and I'll have no problems sparing your life, Lena Oxton."

"Is this Gabriel Reyes speaking, or Reaper, the terrorist?"

"Gabriel Reyes, your former commanding officer."

Lena stood straight and saluted.

"I'll do me best, sir."

Gabriel smiled before putting on mask back on.

"Dismissed." So saying, he showed himself out.

"Well luv, today has certainly been interesting, yeah? What did you make of all that?"

"I think it is time to move to your place. If Talon thinks I am dead, than they will undoubtedly send people to my safehouses to retrieve my equipment so they can make another Widowmaker."

"Too right. If they do make another one, then with any luck we'll be enough to kill her! And anyways, Emily has been out of my flat for about five months now."

"Your steady girl?" Amélie asked with a smile that said it all.

"Bollocks. I was hopin' you wouldn't draw the connection!" Lena huffed.

"I observe everything..." Amélie said, managing to sound abnormally predatory while saying something rather simple...


	9. I hear you're moving?

Amélie and Lena arrived safely at the latter's flat. Amélie wanted to know what to do next, but Lena had an idea shortly after Amélie asked.

"How about I go to Overwatch and try to convince them of your return?"

"Nonsense! They would probably throw you in a cell as soon as you arrived and set up a court-martial. What we must do is help advance their ideals, and be very public about it; we need to leave no doubts in their minds that it's you and I who are looking out for their interests. I'm thinking we need a camera. Maybe a helmet cam? That sort of thing, so that if you and I get into a gun-battle with some Talon thugs, you and I can kill them, and it would be recorded. And then we could leave a copy of the video at Overwatch HQ or something. _Enfin_ , I could be welcome somewhere, and not be perpetually on the run from _TWO_ organizations who would like nothing more than to see me captured."

"That's a good idea, but wouldn't it be better if I were to hijack an Overwatch dropship? They've been making renovations to their hiding place in the King's Row cathedral. They've got underground levels and air transports and what not. I've been there and seen it. You could be in the court-yard down below, try to talk to them, but make it clear you are surrendering. And if they don't seem friendly, I'd be there so you could grapple up to the dropship and get away?"

"No, I'd rather not. We have no way of knowing whether they'd just shoot me, or if they'd go through proper channels. Or maybe they'd enact their own vengeance before handing me over to the UN."

"So we're agreed on option number two."

" _Oui_."

"Now then, the only question is when?"

"Well, there should be a few stores you can check for cameras, right? We need some good hardware before we start stopping criminals. If we want a record of it so we can send it to Overwatch, that is. The sooner we get the equipment, the sooner we can begin."

"What if I run into someone from Overwatch? They'll likely want to catch me and 'dispense justice' to borrow a term from McCree.."

"I'll be nearby, monitoring you from the roof-tops, and will assist if necessary."

"They'll probably be looking out for you too, so be careful."

"If someone is being careful _cherie_ , it will be me, and if someone is not being careful, it will be you."

"Not fair!" Lena whined. That was when she had an idea.

"Say, if we have a camera, maybe we could get you out of that Talon bodysuit you're wearing and into some of my clothes. Ditch the visor and your equipment, put 'em off to one side and take pictures of us kissing, smiling, laughing and such, and then send it to them? That would show that you've broken free of the conditioning, and are your own person again."

"Oui, I like that idea even better; now we really need to buy a camera!"

Lena and Amélie shared a laugh at that.

Lena left to buy the camera. It was an uneventful trip, and she was soon back. Amélie decided to remain, so as not to run the risk of getting captured by Overwatch. Lena was okay with it, and went without her. When she got back, Amélie was curious, so she asked the Brit.

"What luck, _ma bonne fille douce_?"

"Seriously, luv? My good sweet girl?"

Amélie chuckled, decidedly amused.

"Since when do you know French, _cherie_?"

"I recently started translating English terms of endearment into French for whenever I bumped into you. That's in addition to studying French in high school years ago."

" _Tres bon_. Very good."

"I knew what that meant, _ma cherie_." Lena threw that in to tease Amélie and see what reaction she would get. It instantly became worth the effort of learning French years ago when she saw Amélie jump a little.

"Moving on. Did you get the camera, Lena?"

"Yes I did, now put your equipment in the bed-room, and find some of my clothes that you think would fit you. It's time for stage two of our little plan to innoculate Overwatch to the truth of your condition."

"I'd like that very much if it would mean I could be safe."

"'ey! You're safe whenever you're in my bloody flat, I'll have you know!"

"Really? I was unaware." Amélie teased.

Amélie returned about five minutes later in a semi-loose black tank-top that looked good on her, and a blue pair of slacks that were just about her size. Her legs stuck out like sore thumbs; Talon had cut off her legs below the knees and replaced it with bionic substitutes. But there was nothing she could do about it, so she didn't complain.

"You look good and natural-like, luv." Lena said happily.

"I have broken the conditioning, but only time will tell if Overwatch will believe the proof before their eyes."

Picture time for Amélie and Lena Lacroix...

* * *

Meanwhile, in the King's Row watchpoint, the echelon of command was beginning their umpteenth meeting.

In the center of the room there was a table with the Overwatch logo inscribed on it. Positioned around it in a circle were eight chairs, sitting in the chairs were six people. Lena's seat was unoccupied, and Genji wasn't sitting in his chair, he was meditating on the floor, not really bothering with participating in the debate.

Reinhardt, Jack, Angela, McCree, Torbjörn, and Winston were discussing Lena's decision to go AWOL. It would have been less of a problem to everyone at the table if there wasn't the chance of her co-ordinating Overwatch intel with Talon through Widowmaker, who she seemed to be head over heels in love with. Everyone knew Tracer preferred the fairer sex, but Widowmaker? The very idea was a shock to everyone...

The questions were outlandish, but in the minds of some gathered, perfectly valid. Presently, Jack was on a proverbial rampage, asking questions such as

'what security measures should we take now that Tracer has defected?'

'how can we be sure that Talon won't be coming to finish us off now?'

'what charges should we bring against Tracer if she does return?' And such. This meeting had been going on for half an hour when Torb spoke up.

"Jack, your stint as this 'Soldier: 76' has muddled your wits. Tracer has not defected, she is simply caring for Amélie and-"

"Don't you dare call that Talon bitch Amélie!" Jack thundered.

"It may be the body of Amélie Lacroix, but it's a ghost in the machine! _IT IS NOT HER!_ " He roared, continuing and concluding his spiel.

At that, Torb got angry, and definitely let it be known in the tone of his response.

"Do not shout at me, _pojke_! You may have been Strike Commander but Winston is the leader of Overwatch's Second Generation, not you! Anyways, there's no reason to bring charges against Lena, the lass is caring for Amélie. She's caring for Amélie, and I've seen her..."

At that Winston piped in.

"What? Torbjörn, what are you saying? Have you seen Amélie?"

Jack scowled at the continued usage of the name of his former friend's wife. Invisible under the mask, he made sure it was audible by scoffing.

"Ay. Ay, I have."

"And you didn't tell us! Why?"

"Because I had no clue whether you would try to kill her or help her. And Lena asked me not to."

"When was this?"

"Well, first things first, I saw Amélie a few days ago when Lena popped by; Amélie was there, and they went to the medical quarter. I faintly heard Lena's pulse pistols. Jack did too and went to investigate. I heard her pistols again; for some reason, no one else did. I poked my head in the door, and that Hispanic hacker was there too. From what I heard them say, Amélie's noggin needed tampering with to give her back her memories. It sounded like Sombra and Lena had an agreement. It was a strange thing too. I heard Lena say "If Amélie dies, then you'll have every right to kill me. Just as we agreed." And a few weeks before that; I was returning from Japan, having built some of my famous Overwatch turrets for them. You see their automated security isn't all that good, so they asked me for some proper turrets and such. My flight was stopping in Zurich before heading for King's Row, and Lena boarded. I didn't recognize her at the time, but she recognized me. She said she had Widowmaker dialed in. When we landed in King's Row, she asked me not to say anything."

"You should have told us." Mercy said.

"You'll understand when I say I had reasonable doubt as to whether I should or should not have done so. After all, you're the one who tried to kill Amélie."

"What about the part where Lena Oxton shot Angela's hands, and then my hands and knees? And then _SOMBRA_ tossed Angela her staff so she could heal us both. _SOMBRA_ , not Lena!"

"Angela's Caduceus blaster was on the floor! As soon as she had the opportunity, Angela tried to murder either Lena or Amélie. It was self-defense on Lena's part."

"She defended Widowmaker!" Jack thundered.

"And herself by extension! You must've not heard me when I said that they have an agreement wherein Lena failing to protect Amélie is punishable by death."

Genji stood up.

"Jack, have you forgotten Amélie's sweet innocent nature? How do you justify this blind rage of yours toward an innocent victim of a terrorist organization? Life and death balance on the edge of a blade, and you can't find it in your heart to forgive her for something she didn't do? If so, then you are a fickle friend; as fickle as the four winds! As for Lena Oxton, I say she is innocent. She has seen what you have not; she has seen the remnants of Amélie's damaged soul poking through the shell of the Widowmaker that we can all be sure Talon has maliciously forced upon her. Talon is a master of sleight of hand, and they have succeeded for so long in getting us to hate someone who was once one of our own. Empty your mind; focus on the task at hand; forgive. Amélie. Lacroix."

Jesse McCree stood up.

"Well spoken, Genji, it so happens that I agree with ya. Ya'll know how I was on that train that Talon recently attacked. Those people were using the Blackwatch playbook, and the snake in the grass trick was a regular old thing at Blackwatch. I wouldn't put it past those Talon vipers for a damn second."

This in turn sparked a whole firestorm of a debate that ended shockingly ten minutes later.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the same time that Genji was insisting Amélie and Lena should be considered innocent, Lena was at the fence that cordoned off the building the public assumed was empty. It was scheduled for demolishing, but an unknown benefactor bought it, and then contacted Winston and informed him that he needed to move the unofficially recalled Overwatch from Gibraltar, and that they could use the cathedral building in King's Row. The moon gave off minimal light, and Athena had detected her presence long before she was at the fence. She had biometric sensors and air pressure scanners that could detect the slightest change in air density that a human body would undoubtedly cause. Before she reported her presence to Winston or anybody for that matter, she wanted to talk to Lena and get her side of the story.

A door on the side opened and out came Athena in an Omnic body with her AI registered to it's hard drive. She had worked out a way where she could have her AI in the Omnic body and not be forever stuck in it until permanent deactivation. When Athena wished to keep the base safe, the Omnic would go to a secure section of the Watchpoint, Athena would transfer her AI to the base power matrix, and the Omnic would shut down.

"Lena Oxton, you should know that they are debating whether you should face charges or not."

Athena heard Lena mutter under her breath. "Looks like Amélie was right, then."

"What about you, how 'ave you been, and what do you think?"

"I have missed your laughter. And while no one else would say it, the base is more tense when you're not there. Also, I think I would have to see Widowmaker and assess her behavior and check for matches between her present state of mind and the psychiatric profile I have compiled about her before I could return a verdict on your activities, and what I think about them."

"You have no idea just how much she's changed, Athena! She's changed! It makes me so bleedin' happy!" Lena squealed cheerfully.

"Based on the lack of changes to neural activity in the scan I performed on your brain, I am led to believe that you are not lying, therefore I would say you should not face charges."

"Gosh, Athena, you mind dumbing that down for a lowly time-jumping pilot?" Lena asked.

"Judging by the consistent patterns of neural activity in your brain, I have no indication that-"

"Oi, Athena, I was just kidding luv."

"Well played, Lena Oxton, just you wait. I'll learn you..." Athena teased.

"I can't wait to see how this'll turn out. An AI with super-computer level computing processes analyzes how to revenge prank me, a lowly human who has significant trouble with complicated algebra and/or geometry."

"I'll be fair, but you'll still lose. After all, you speak the truth. I estimate that your capacity for high level probability calculation to be approximately sixty-four millionths that of mine." Athena taunted.

"I'll probably be back in a month, so you'll have ample time to plan. I just want to drop off these pictures." So saying, Lena held up the printed pictures for Athena to see.

"Would you mind telling the group that you don't know who did it? That it evaded your sensors or something. If they know I was in King's Row, they'd probably mobilize all their active duty agents to look for me. You said they wanting to charge me; so it would make sense. Which Amélie said they probably would, by the way."

"I heard you the first time. Don't worry, I will tell them that all my sensors detected nothing, and there is no camera footage, in addition, I will purge the biometric sensor data from when you arrived, and the camera feeds as well. That will prove it. I only ask that sometime soon I can meet this Amélie I've heard so many good things about. By the way, you should hear what Genji had to say about you two."

"Did you perchance record it luv?"

"I did; here it is."

So saying, Athena played the audio for Lena.

Lena was touched when she heard Genji say that, but the real surprise was when she heard McCree agree.

"Blimey, I'll have to thank them and apologize later."

"That would be a prudent move if you wish to maintain the friendship that you have admittedly strained a decent bit for the sake of helping Amélie. Where will you be in case I need to contact you? I won't tell anyone."

"My King's Row home." With that, Lena handed Athena a duplicate key and left.

Athena trooped her Omnic body into a secure storage closet and, transferring her AI into the base's central power grid, she shut the Omnic down. She had to draw attention of the people inside to the pictures so they could see the truth about Amélie.

"...And zerefore we should at least bring Amélie in for examination before we let her go free!" Reinhardt concluded. The German giant was of the idea that she had finally returned, but he still wanted to be sure. So he advocated examining her to find out once and for all.

"Winston?" Athena inquired.

"Yes, Athena?"

"There is an an unknown object on the floor next to the fence. It appears to be a stack of pictures, but I can't identify it for certain, nor can I tell how it got there. Could you send someone to retrieve it?"

Genji stood.

"I'll get this mysterious object and return."

Ten minutes passed and Genji hadn't returned. the others were starting to worry, and getting ready to go out looking for him.

Winston asked Athena where Genji was.

"He appears to be doubled over in laughter at the fence."

"Curious... Could you ask him to return?"

"Already done, Winston."

"Thanks Athena."

Genji re-entered the room three minutes later holding a stack of papers and trying very hard to shake off a fit of laughter. This only effected an increased sense of intrigue from everyone else present.

"Something funny over there, ninja?" McCree drawled.

"I should say so." Placing the stack of papers in the center of the table, Genji placed both his palms on the pile, and spread them like a deck of cards. He spoke, but could not keep the snicker out of his voice.

"See for yourself."

On the table were approximately thirty pictures of Amélie and Lena. Amélie held the camera in all of them.

The two of them stood in front of a backdrop so there would be nothing in the background that would give their location away.

 _Amélie wearing some of Lena's clothes as they shared a kiss. At the same time, they were both looking at the camera out of the corner of their eyes._

 _Lena making goofy faces and Amélie smiling._

 _Amélie and Lena laughing and smiling._

 _Lena poking Amélie with a feather, and Amélie laughing while squirming ticklishly._

Even McCree laughed at that picture.

The pictures were all light-hearted, but they all showed that Amélie had truly broken free of Talon's grasp. The most damning proof against any argument that Widowmaker was pretending to be Amélie was the lively, loving look in both of their eyes. Widowmaker was incapable of feeling emotion, but Amélie was not. She was anything but incapable of emotion, as all the pictures confirmed. Not only that, Amélie was wearing some of Lena's clothes; if she was truly the emotionless Widowmaker, she would be incapable of making play she was Amélie and would remain in her Talon-issued bodysuit.

* * *

Breaking the silence, Soldier: 76 piped up.

"All in favor of detaining Amélie and charging her with treason against Overwatch by joining Talon to murder Overwatch agents, raise your left hand."

His was the only hand that went in the air.

"All in favor of welcoming both of them here, so that they may hide from Talon, who will undoubtedly look for Amélie to remake her as Widowmaker for the second time, raise your left hand"

He was the only one who did not throw up a hand.

"Unbelievable. If Widowmaker pulls a Gerard and kills someone, it's on all of you, not me. One thing's for sure, if we're doing this, then we have to contain it. The new recruits have to be brought around gradually."

"I agree on that. But it won't matter if we can't get zem here in ze first place." Reinhardt said.

Winston had an idea how to get the message through to Lena, but couldn't be sure.

"Athena, could you perchance contact Lena and let her know that we will accept it if she and Amélie wish to stay here to be safe from Talon?"

"Possibly. I'll try, but if that fails, I have reason to think that she'll come back here within a month."

Winston found that a bit suspicious, but chose not to comment on it.

"Noted. Thank you, Athena. Alright everyone, lights out in ten."

"Understood." Soldier: 76 said.

"Acknowledged." Reinhardt said.

"I hear ya." McCree said.

"Very well." Genji said.

"Understood." Angela said.

"Gotcha." Torbjörn said

Going their separate ways, they all had something on their mind. As he walked down a hallway, Jack had an idea, but he needed to start making plans if he wanted to carry it to fruition.

Who should walk up but Genji Shimada? As it happened, the ninja wanted to talk to him.

"Jack, revenge is a path leaving only scorched earth in its wake. The look on your face is indicative that you have not forgiven, nor have you forgotten. Let it go. Clear your mind of these poisonous thoughts."

"Poisonous? What do you know about loss, cyborg?! What about betrayal; have you ever experienced any of that?"

"My brother killed me and I was brought back to life by Dr. Angela Ziegler like a modern-day Frankenstein. I am half man, half-machine; I think that qualifies as betrayal. Nice try!"

"Fine, I'll give you that one. Who have you lost to the Widowmaker? Let me run down my list for you. _Gerard. Bayless. Al-Farouk._ And guess who the world lost at the time when we needed him the most?"

"Tekartha Mondatta."

"Tekartha fucking Mondatta! A damned 21st century robot Gandhi doing nothing more 'wrong' than advocating peace between Omnics and humans!"

"My mentor Zenyatta was the closest thing possible to Mondatta's brother, and he forgave Widowmaker without having ever known her before. Perhaps you should learn from him. To dwell on the past is to let hatred coil around your heart."

Jack wanted to end the conversation, so he tried to hit below the belt. "Isn't it bed-time, little boy?"

The last thing Jack saw was a flash of green light before Genji had him in a neck-grip and held his short sword at his throat.

"I warn you, Soldier: 76," Genji spat. "I will tell Overwatch that you're planning something that could harm either Lena or Amélie or both, and they will throw you in a cell. If that does not happen, I'll kill you before I let you harm either of them."

Jack felt himself fly forward in an uncontrolled fashion and realized Genji kicked him away. He turned around just in time to see three shurikens whiz by his right ear. He heard a thud behind him as the throwing stars impacted against the opposite wall.

"Last chance to change your course, Morrison. Do so before it is too late."

Stalking off soundlessly, Genji entered his room. Accessing his communications terminal, he opened up a line to Nepal.

"Master, I have someone who needs your help."

"Very well. I'll be there soon, my student." The warm voice of Zenyatta intoned.


	10. Refuge

One hour later, the Moon was shining bright. At Amélie's insistence, it was time for both of them to go to sleep. Amélie took a shower and changed back into her Talon bodysuit, and proceeded to sit down on a chair. Lena took a shower and changed. Getting dressed, she walked out into the bed-room, where she observed that Amélie had let her hair down.

"Amélie, I seem to not have done any laundry, so I will have to wear this."

"Your Overwatch standard?"

"Yes, indeed. Should I change into something else, or do you mind if I wear this?"

"Fine with me; it's what you were wearing when you helped me remember." Amélie said fondly.

"Thanks luv. I'll run a couple loads of laundry tomorrow."

Snuggling in, they fell asleep shortly after.

They didn't notice Athena enter through the front door an hour later. Athena walked around, not calling Lena's name on account of how late it was.

She walked to the kitchen and didn't see them. Turning around she re-entered the living room, only to turn a corner and open a door to what she assumed was a bed-room. Softly opening the door, she saw Amélie and Lena peacefully sleeping. Backpedaling, she closed the door behind her. Sitting on a sofa in the main-room, she drew a side-arm from a compartment on her thigh and kept watch on the front door. She had heard the conversation between Genji and Jack, and was worried. She knew that Jack knew where Lena lived, but what she did not know was whether or not Jack knew that Lena was presently in King's Row. If Jack came in the door, Athena would assume hostile intent to Lena and Amélie and would protect them. If Jack came in, she would disarm him if possible, but she'd kill him if she had to.

* * *

Dawn came; shining celestial light upon the city of King's Row. Amélie awoke to see Lena still asleep.

Getting up quietly and carefully, Amélie tip-toed out of the room and into the kitchen. She didn't see Athena, and Athena didn't see her. When dreaming last night, Amélie remembered all of Widowmaker's kills, and was overcome with grief. She sank to her knees and sobbed quietly.

Athena heard the sobbing and, getting up from the sofa, she noticed Amélie weeping inconsolably on the kitchen floor. Walking over to Amélie, she hid her side-arm; not wanting to trigger a fight or flight reaction.

"Amélie Lacroix? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" She said in a soothing tone.

Still Amélie wept, not heeding the voice in her head that told her she was vulnerable for attack.

Athena felt a hand on her shoulder. Whirling around, she saw Lena.

"I've got this covered. Don't worry." Lena whispered.

Athena nodded.

"Luv?" There was no way Amélie could mistake that voice for anybody else.

Still she wept, beaten down by her sorrows.

Lena walked over and, sitting down next to Amélie, she hugged her.

"Luv, what's wrong?"

Amélie looked up at Lena dejectedly and smiled a weary smile devoid of honesty. She felt so tired of life with all its burdens.

"I'm drowning, Lena," She said.

"Ahrm, come again luv? We're on dry land."

"In the shallows of Lake Annecy, there lays a living corpse drowning under the weight of my sins." Amélie chanted over and over again.

"Listen luv, those were not your kills!"

Amélie smiled heavily.

"Why do you care for me Lena? I'm a murderer."

"C'mere luv. I've got ya," Lena said; lifting her up bridal style. For some reason, this time it felt more appropos to Lena as opposed to a few days ago. She started walking around; slowly swinging her arms left and right as if Amélie was a big crying baby.

"Do you know what you mean to me? Let me tell you. So, this all starts with those Talon bastards kidnapping you. When that happened, I went looking for you; I was literally going crazy looking for you. Following up on all possible leads I had and such like. Then we found you. Two weeks later, Gerard was dead. Years passed, and we had our run-ins. And three weeks ago, Widowmaker murdered Tekartha Mondatta. I found out that my old friend Amélie was the woman under the shell. I visited Gerard's grave. And right then and right there, I swore an oath on his tombstone that I'd protect you and keep you safe. That I'd keep you happy to the best of my ability. Then Sombra found me. I told her I was trying to help you, and then she gave me your location and some other stuff and made me promise to keep you safe. And anyway, I wasn't going to let myself love you, but you convinced me. So you've only yourself to blame for the fact that I care for you."

So saying, Lena stuck out her tongue in a raspberry of sorts. That made Amélie laugh. Leaning her head into Lena's shoulder, she closed her eyes; enjoying the warmth of Lena's body against her cold, cold skin.

They stood like this for five minutes.

"Can I stand on my own now, _mademoiselle_ Lacroix?"

For a moment, Lena didn't recognize herself, as her last name was still Oxton. Or at least, was still _officially_ Oxton.

 _"Oui, vous belle femme."_

Setting Amélie on her feet, Lena heard

"Thank you for the compliment, dearest Lena."

Lena forgot about the presence of Athena, who was in the room. She was reminded when Athena made a buzzing noise that was instantly recognizable.

"Excuse me, Lena?"

Amélie whirled around and drew a side-arm faster than greased lightning. Lena had to blink in front of her to make sure she didn't shoot.

"Easy, Amélie, easy! This is Athena. The AI for the Overwatch base in King's Row."

"This is no AI, Lena, this is a battle-capable Omnic!"

"Can an Artificial Intelligence not exist if it doesn't have a body, Amélie? Anyways, Lena, I came on important business. There was a discussion last night; remember?"

"Yeah, I do. What about it?"

"Perhaps I should play the audio for Amélie's sake."

"'ang on, hang on! Let's try all that again, but after introductions!" Lena interjected.

"Amélie, Athena. Athena, Amélie. There, can we try again now?"

"It is a pleasure to meet you Amélie; I've heard nothing but good about you from Lena." So saying, Athena extended a hand to Amélie, and Amélie reciprocated. Shaking hands, Athena played an audio file for Amélie. 'You have no idea just how much she's changed, Athena! She's changed! It makes me so bleedin' happy!' That cheerful Cockney accent couldn't be mistaken for anyone else.

"Blimey, Athena! Do ye record and save every bloody thing you hear?" Lena sighed.

Amélie looked at Lena and smiled at her. _You'll pay for that, Lena Lacroix._ she mouthed.

Lena smiled back and blew her a raspberry.

"Alright Athena, play the file."

An hour later, the clip was done, and Amélie was experiencing mixed emotions. Lena knew she had some choice words she was going to say to Jack Morrison about Amélie, and damn straight. _Monster? Talon bitch? Fuck you Morrison! She may have been those things once, but she isn't anymore!_ Lena thought.

Athena piped up "Long story short, they are in favor of you entering into their ranks as an official Overwatch member that you may hide from Talon, and even strike back against them should you feel so inclined any time soon."

"Thank you, Athena. Now if you don't mind, Lena and I will debate the merits of staying on our own or seeking the refuge offered by Overwatch." Amélie said.

Turning to Lena, Amélie spoke her mind again.

"Lena, I think that even if we were to join Overwatch there would be just as much danger as if we were to go it alone. I personally don't see either side as having any more benefits now that I think about it. This Jack Morrison is planning something about me, and I don't trust him."

Here Athena and Lena piped up at the same time.

"Don't worry about him, I'll protect you." They said in unison.

"Jinx, Athena! You owe me a Scotch." Lena said excitedly.

"Sure, sure. What kind?"

"Aberlour. Make it an old bottle too, please!"

"Deal." Athena smiled. Now she had an idea on how she was going to prank Lena back.

"Alright. Your clowning aside, let's go." Amélie said.

"Ever the voice of wisdom, Amélie!" Lena teased.

"Quite right. Never more so than when I'm around you." Amélie countered playfully.

* * *

Standing outside the Cathedral, both Amélie and Lena were considerably nervous. Athena walked inside and then out the back over to the storage closet. Shutting down the Omnic, she transferred her AI to the base power matrix.

"Moment of truth, luv." Lena said. Drawing her pulse pistols and keeping them at her sides, she was being careful.

She and Amélie entered the building...

Amélie activated her Infra-sight, not wanting to be caught off guard. Seeing someone about thirty yards away around a bend, She whispered to Lena

"Someone's coming; don't look up!" So saying, she grappled up to a rafter to conceal herself. Old habits die hard.

The person turned out to be Jesse McCree, who was sent to fetch them; Athena had let everyone know they were coming. Lena stopped to greet him.

"Oi, Jesse!"

"Howdy do, Lena. How've you been? Courting death by helping that assassin remember. Is she really Amélie?" He said excitedly.

"See for yourself... Amélie, you can come down; it isn't Jack." She said into her comm unit.

"Where is she? And why is she afraid of Jack?"

"Apparently Jack has something planned for Amélie, and-"

Amélie dropped down, landing and gracefully transitioning into a roll. Jesse drew his Peacekeeper on reflex, and kept it trained on Amélie for a moment, believing it was Widowmaker.

When she didn't do anything, he lowered his revolver.

"My apologies Amélie; the uniform threw me."

"It's alright, _monsieur_..."

"The name's McCree. Jesse McCree."

"Amélie Lacroix."

"Pleasure to meet you. You know, I'm not sure about Oxton over here, but I intend to make Talon pay for kidnapping an innocent lady such as yourself, Amélie."

"Oi, It's Lacroix, not Oxton." Lena said irritatedly.

"Wha'?" Jesse said dumbstruck.

He opened his mouth to try again, but shut it right after. This happened two more times.

Apparently he was satisfied with how he assembled the question in his mind, because when he opened his mouth, out came a coherent question.

"Do ya mean to say you two already consider yourselves married? Damn, that was fast; how long ago was it when you helped her remember, Lena? Three days ago? Four? I always knew you were a womanizer." he teased.

Amélie laughed at the strange back-and-forth banter that these people shared. It reminded her of when she was still Gerard's wife. To Lena, it was a beautiful sound, and more precious than a heart-moving symphony from those musical composers from about two-to-three hundred years ago that she couldn't presently remember the names of. Even more beautiful what with Amélie's recent mood-swings.

"That was beautiful, luv. Every time I hear you laugh, I wanna hear it again and again."

"We should probably get goin' Lacroixes; The rest of the gang'll wanna see Amélie. But Lena, in all seriousness, you should know that we've had several meetings recently, in several of which we discussed whether you should face charges or not." McCree said.

As he said this, Lena and Amélie exchanged significant looks.

"We ended up deciding that you're innocent, and that this is legitimate, but people might still need a bit of convincin' that this is Amélie, especially with the whole Widowmaker bodysuit thingy."

"Thanks for the heads-up, but Athena dropped by my flat and played us the whole audio. Amélie and I are thankful that you and Genji believed in us. I've got words to say to that sonuvabitch Morrison." Lena said.

"No you don't," McCree said.

"Why? You gonna stop me?" Lena said coldly, perceiving it as a challenge, and thus a possible threat to Amélie's safety.

"Easy Lena, easy. Right now you sound like I did back when I was in the Deadlock gang. You don't have words to say to him 'cause he left this morning, as it happens. Said he'd give us a week to change our ways and throw you out, or his days as Soldier: 76 weren't done. He's still upset that you shot him to protect Amélie here... Speaking of, I have to ask; did you really shoot him? Or is he just making it up?" McCree asked.

"Lena, you shot your friends?! _fille stupide_! Why didn't you tell me this?"

"Amélie, I didn't kill him, I just took away his ability to pursue and shoot at us. Same for Angela. I'm not denying that I shot them; I shot them, and I'd do it again without qualms if it kept you safe."

Amélie shook her head and smiled.

"Well, I guess I should be grateful that you love me that much."

Amélie whirled around when she heard the sound of something thudding to the ground.

That was when she saw Jesse's cigar on the ground, and his mouth agape at the two of them.

"Remind me to stay off your bad side, Lena. Anyhow let's get goin'." So sayin, he stomped out his old cigar and grabbed a new one from a pouch on his belt, next to his flashbangs.

"So Jesse, how did you fare in that quick-draw contest that you challenged Genji to?" Lena inquired.

"Well, you've heard me say 'I'm the quick, you're the dead.' right? Well Genji is the quicker, and I'm the deader; I nearly got my damn head blown off when he deflected my bullet mere inches away from my face."

"Did you challenge him again?"

"Actually, yes I did, only I clarified, and said I was curious who could draw a lead-thrower such as Peacekeeper here faster. I was faster."

"Shit! Really?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Congratulations; all those Wild Wild West days have paid off for you."

"In ways both good and bad. Much obliged, though." he said.

Looking at Amélie, he felt like he should give her a warning on what she should expect.

"Amélie, I have to warn you, that you will be treated as a bit of an oddity for a bit. When the luster fades, people will start treating you as Amélie again, you mark my words, hear me?"

" _Merci, monsieur_ McCree."

Halting outside the conference room, Jesse had one last thing to say to Amélie.

"Now, Amélie, people will think you're Widowmaker, so you'll have to start talking fast, and claim the floor. Lena and I will support you. Genji and everyone else believes you deep down, but the fact that you're back in that bodysuit is gonna give them pause for a bit. So be careful."

Unto the breach...

* * *

When they both entered, everyone was startled to see Amélie in the Widowmaker bodysuit, but McCree was able to calm them down. Amélie stood tall and took everyones gazes in for a second before addressing them.

" _Bonjour_ everyone. My name is Amélie Lacroix, and I want to thank you for your offer of refuge from Talon. Over the past week, Lena has helped me remember, and the more I remember, the more I want to stay with her, instead of being abducted by Talon again. I understand that this 'Jack Morrison' is against you allowing me to stay here, but I will do my best to earn your trust. This all must come as a shock, but I really am glad to see you all on friendly terms."

"Greetings, Amélie, it is good to see you." Genji said, standing up and walking over.

Amélie shook the proffered hand, and continued to stand with Lena when everyone else sat back down.

"Well, it's good to see you Amélie, but I'm sure we all have a few questions we'd like to ask you, if you don't mind." Winston said.

"Very well, I will do my best to answer them..."

This had gone on for about twenty minutes when Amélie's left eye started twitching.

Lena didn't notice at first until she heard Amélie start rapidly muttering panicked phrases in French.

 _"Arreter. Arreter! Faire cesser! S'il vous plait faire cesser!"_

Lena took action fast, realizing that Amélie was panicking.

"Everybody stop talking! Amélie's having a panic attack."

 _"Gerard, s'il vous plait aidez-moi! J'ai peur pour ma vie! Ils veulent me casser et faire de moi une arme!"_

Speaking to Amélie in her native tongue, Lena was worrying about Amélie. When she heard the responses Amélie gave, her concern only increased.

 _"Amélie, écoutez-moi! Vous êtes très bien. Rien de ce que vous êtes se souvenant qui se passe réellement; vous êtes s'en souvenir dans votre vie qui se sont déjà produits. Me concentrer sur ma voix, je t'aiderai à obtenir par ce biais!"_

 _"Qui es tu?"_

 _That hurts._ Lena thought.

" _Je suis ta femme, Lena!"_

Angela gasped; following the conversation in French.

 _"Ma femme? J'ai épousé un homme!"_

That hurt Lena even more, but she knew Amélie was panicking, or she'd have gotten angry about that.

 _"Vous avez fait, mait ensuite Talon avait voues tuer. Ses la meilleure moitié d'une décennie depuis que vous étiez marié à Gerard Lacroix. Vous êtes devenu cet assassin légendaire femelle, et je vous ai aidé n'oubliez pas. Vous rencontrez une attaque de panique! S'il vous plait se souvenir de moi!"_

 _"Vous mentez! Je vais te teur!"_

 _Shit._ Lena thought as Amélie leapt for her throat and started choking her, much to the dismay and surprise of everyone there.

The look of pure hatred in Widowmaker's eyes sent shivers down Lena's spine.

Lena saw McCree rapidly moving his hand to Peacekeeper when she said weakly

"McCree, don't! Everybody don't move! Angela, when the time comes; you do what you have to do. This is the only way I can help her remember!"

Turning to Amélie, Lena choked out.

 _"Fais-le. Faites-le en sachant que dans la vie,"_ Lena gasped.

 _"Dans la vie et la mort, je vais toujours t'aime, Amélie Lacroix._ "

Widowmaker snapped Lena's neck and ran out into the night.

So died Lena Lacroix, lover and unofficial wife of Amélie Lacroix...


	11. How will you prove what you say?

Everyone looked around at each other, stunned.

"Angela, act fast! Oxton's life depends on it!" Reinhardt said.

"Heroes never die!" Angela said, activating her Valkyrie suit.

Up shot Lena Lacroix, who looked around blankly for a moment. Remembering Widowmaker's hands on her throat, she blinked up and, before anyone could stop her, blinked out into the cold night. Determined to pursue Amélie and bring her back. She searched for twenty minutes not finding anything.

She was just about to leave when she heard sobbing coming from a near by alley. The natural do-gooder she was, she went to investigate, thinking someone might need help. Turns out, there was a damsel in distress; Amélie was in an alley, on her knees crying her heart out and mumbling in her grief.

"Lena, I'm so sorry! I don't want your love if it means you have to die. But don't worry my sweet, I'll join you presently. What do you think of that? We can be together again!" she wept to empty air. She drew her fire-arm and was tackled before she could press it to her head.

"Leave me alone! I want to- Lena?" Amélie said finally recognizing her assailant as she stood.

"Cheers, luv!"

"Non, this isn't real! _Mon Dieu, c'est impossible!_ I'm sorry I killed you, but, but-"

"But what, luv?"

"I DON'T NEED THE GHOSTS OF MY CONSCIOUS HOUNDING ME!" Amélie screamed.

Continuing, Amélie had a whole lot more to say. "Conjuring an image to tear me apart for my sin! I swear I never in a million years wanted to kill you! Now I'm talking and screaming at people who aren't even here."

Lena finally realized the implications of the statement she just heard. Amélie thought she was seeing a ghost, and not a real person. That was when Lena slapped Amélie hard.

Amélie fell flat onto the ground.

"Snap out of it! You didn't kill me!"

"Yes I did!" She said, rising to her feet only to sit back down when the stinging slap finally registered in her brain.

"Oi, alright, you did. But I was resurrected by Angela. I'm alive luv, and I don't care that in the blind throes of a panic attack, you killed me, nor do I hold it against you. As far as I'm concerned, I never died. But I'm here now, _mon amour._ " So saying, Lena sank to her knees and hugged Amélie.

"Lena, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright. Do you perchance remember what I said as you choked me?"

"No. What did you say?"

"I said 'Do it. Do it knowing that in life and death, I'll always love you, Amélie Lacroix'."

Amélie's eyes brimmed with tears. She blinked them away.

"Lena. I'm going to ask you a serious question, and I want you to answer it seriously."

"Sure thing, luv."

"Just how far would you go to save me?"

"Are you asking me to put a quantifiable limit on the love I have in my heart for you?"

"No, I'm asking you how far you would go."

"As far as it takes, and then double that. Do you have any problems with that?"

"Mm, no. Definitely not. Why not triple though?" Amélie laughed, and Lena soon followed.

"Come on, we gotta get back there." Lena said through her mirth.

"Will they welcome me after what I did to you?"

"I figure that if I act as if it never happened, then they'll put it behind them. And anyway, they should, specifically Angela, as it means you need medical help."

"I don't need help; I've got you! No matter how cliche it might sound, I can say with absolute honesty that you're all I'll ever need.""

Same here luv. We need to stick together, or else we'll be dead before you know it."

* * *

Arriving back at the Cathedral, Amélie pulled Lena aside before they entered it.

"They might arrest me when we enter, so this could be my last time to tell you how much I love you." So saying, she kissed Lena.

"I love you, Amélie. If they imprison you, I'll break you out."

They entered the cathedral, and walked down the hidden stairs until they entered the underground level.

Everyone else looked like they still hadn't forgotten what happened, as when Amélie walked in. McCree drew his Peacekeeper, and Genji drew his short sword, dashing at Amélie.

Lena tried to defuse the situation, but was too late.

Genji had already reached Amélie, and held his sword at her throat.

"Stop! Everybody stop!" Lena shouted for all she was worth. So saying, she blinked over behind Genji and grabbed the blade from his hands and sheathed it for him. Blinking in front of McCree, she took his revolver out of his hand and holstered it. Blinking back in front of Genji, she snatched Amélie away and recalled back to the doors.

"She's alright everybody." She said quietly.

"Lena, she killed you! I know you love her, but does that mean nothing to you?" Angela stated, dumbstruck.

"No. And anyways, how do you know that? I was speaking in French! You don't...? You speak the language, don't you." Lena stated more than asked.

Angela nodded.

"Perhaps it's time for me to reveal what I know." Lena said.

"But first, I want you all to stop calling me Lena Oxton. Instead, call me Lena-"

"Lacroix." Amélie finished, smiling.

"Correct, luv."

The room turned deathly silent.

"That's right, everybody, we're in love, and consider ourselves joined. Angela heard the conversation I had with Amélie in the midst of her panic attack, and can tell you all about it later."

 _Sorry, Ange!_ she mouthed, looking in the direction of a now _VERY_ irate Angela Ziegler.

"As for everything else, I started helping Amélie remember herself about a week and half ago. One thing lead to another, and we found out the extent of the damage Talon left behind in order to create the perfect weapon. We had to get to this very base to get Amélie hooked up to the only machine that could heal her broken mind. Or, that's how Sombra made it sound. That's basically everything."

"Well, let me be the first to formally welcome you to this base. And after a few initiation protocols we can perform later, we will all welcome you as an official member of Overwatch, Amélie." Winston said enthusiastically.

"Merci, Winston." Amélie said.

"I just got one question for y'all lovebirds." McCree stated.

"What is it, McCree?" Lena inquired

"Why don't you two get married here if you already 'consider yourselves joined'?"

"When Talon is dead, we will live our lives as we see fit, and you can believe me when I say it will be my first priority." Amélie said with a smile on her face.

"But do you have any intelligence we could use to crush zose Talon villains once und for all?" Reinhardt inquired.

"Yes, I do. And with your help, I wish to strike back at them and destroy them for what they have done to me. And because they stand in the way of me and Lena getting married, I intend to destroy them sooner rather than later."

"Well, tell us the locations of the base, and we can start hitting them. But first we should rally the newer recruits, who are probably just having breakfast." Winston said.

"Wait, Athena owes me a bottle of Aberlour, so why don't we toast Amélie's initiation?"

"That sounds right lovely; I could use a drop o' cold whiskey 'bout now!" McCree drawled lazily.

"Alright. Go get it, and in the mean time I'll ask the young recruits to gather in the conference room." Winston said.

"Athena, luv? Where's that bottle of Scotch that you owe me?"

"I placed it in the common area refridgeration unit."

"Sweet! I'll go get it luvs!" So saying, Tracer blinked off.

Two minutes later, a loud "Athena!" was heard, and Athena started laughing.

"What was that about, Athena?" Winston inquired.

"I shook the bottle."

McCree started laughing at that, and shrugged.

* * *

"Sweet! I'll go get it luvs!" Lena said.

She was excited to toast Amélie's initiation, so she had blinked off to bring back the bottle and some glasses. Arriving at the common area, she realized that she had done the most work to get Amélie back; so she wanted to be the first to toast Amélie's return. Opening the bottle, Lena tried to take a mouthful but the bottle cap smacked her in the lip and she got splashed with Scotch. She recalled.

"Athena!" she shouted.

Up came Alexsandra Zaryanova.

"What happen?" she said in English as bad as her monstrous Russian accent.

"So, I've been helping Widowmaker remember for the past week, and now Amélie has resurfaced; breaking the reconditioning, and then Athena dropped by my home where we had been staying and we discussed the fact that Jack has something possibly very bad planned for Amélie, and than we both said that we'd protect her, so I said jinx and asked for a bottle of Scotch then she said sure and now I found out she shook the bottle and now we don't have any Scotch to toast Widowmaker's defection from Talon!" Lena blurted.

"Widowmaker is here?" Zarya said. Someone tried to assassinate Katya Volskaya. Zarya didn't know all the specifics, but she heard that Volskaya was inspecting a new mech when a sniper round whizzed by, cutting off part of her right earring. The only sniper in the world who could make a shot like that was the sniper Widowmaker, who was legitimately owned by Talon. If she was here, she wouldn't be alive much longer, Zarya determined.

Marching off, Zarya had an idea where she would be. That was when she remembered that she didn't have her plasma cannon with her; it was in the sleeping area by her bunk! She wouldn't need it to kill the Widowmaker, she determined. Especially if she was going soft as Lena implied. If that was the case, then her combat instincts wouldn't be her standard reflex; she wouldn't assume hostile intent until it was too late. If Zarya could get close enough without breaking her poker face, she could snap Widowmaker's frail neck before any one could do anything to stop her.

"Where you goin, Z?" Lena called after her. Zarya ignored her.

"Z?" At this point, it was a formality, Lena knew that Zarya must mean Amélie hostile intent, so she followed quietly, trailing a good distance behind Zarya. When she entered the room, Lena blinked to the room and shouted.

"Amélie, she wants to kill you for Volskaya; don't let her get close!"

At that, Zarya charged toward Amélie, whatever pretense she might have used to get close wouldn't work anymore.

Amélie, quick as lightning drew her Widow's Kiss (which she still kept on her back in case of emergencies; like this one.) and shot Zarya straight in the forehead. The corpse toppled to the floor, blood spurting both ways.

"Amélie!" Winston shouted. Walking over, he intended to imprison her. He didn't really want to; it was more for the formality of the thing. But until he could find out why she killed Zarya instead of say, knocking her unconscious, he felt he had to lock her up temporarily so no one else from Overwatch met the same fate. Bad idea; Widowmaker received the high of the kill that she hadn't had in a long time. Backflipping nimbly, she shot a Venom Mine at Winston, releasing a thick cloud of purple gas that hindered sight and movement. Using that for cover, she fled. Lena charged after her; blinking through the toxin and following her outside where she tackled her moments later.

"Amélie, it's me, Lena! Snap out of it! You're not Widowmaker; you feel, you live, you love!"

"...L-Lena?"

"That's right luv, it's me. You have to run, now! Go to my flat and inform Sombra about what happened, she'll be there fast as fast. The comm-link in your left ear has the frequency pre-programmed. But first, punch me as hard as you can!"

"Why?!"

"You have to! Right now, Winston and everyone else who was in that room is coughing uncontrollably, and the only way I can find out their intentions is to make play you're on the run. If I come back unscathed after chasing you, they'll be suspicious! Punch me in the face like your life depends on it, luv!" Lena babbled.

"No hard feelings?"

"Course not luv; it's necessary."

"Sorry, cherie!" Amélie whispered before hauling back and punching Lena in the jaw. Additionally, she swept Lena's legs out from under her, knocking her flat on her back.

Lena saw stars before her eyes momentarily before she felt Amélie sweep her legs out from under her. Her vision cleared just long enough to see her lover Amélie grapple up to the rooftops; vanishing from sight.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Cathedral, Winston had recovered, and was calling Jack.

"You got something to say?" A low voice demanded on the other end.

"Jack, we need you to come back; Widowmaker resurfaced."

"I fucking told you so! Who's dead?" Jack inquired.

"Zarya."

"Why her?"

"What?" Winston asked, not understanding Jack's train of thought.

"Why would Widowmaker kill Zarya? What's the endgame?"

"Just as Zarya entered the room, I heard Lena shout something to Amélie. I could only make out the words-And I'm quoting here-'Volskaya...don't let her get close!' Does that help in any way?"

"That would explain it; I had heard rumors while I was in Dorado that the Russian leader Katya Volskaya had nearly been assassinated by a sniper of remarkable calibre. That must have been Widowmaker."

"How did you hear that? That's not the sort of news that gets around that fast."

"It does on the black market."

"How do you search the black market for information, exactly? How did you get in?"

"I beat it out of some _Los Muertos_ thug who was in the information business."

"The hacker?"

"Sombra, she's called, and no. Some punk the world won't miss."

"I figured as much. Anyway, we need you to come back."

"I'll be there in thirty minutes."

Angela laid a hand on Winston's arm just as he hung up.

"We need to go out and look for her! We can't let Widowmaker run unchecked on the streets of London!"

"I'm aware of that fact. Where's Lena?"

Angela looked around and gasped.

"Oh no! She must have went out to pursue Widowmaker! We have to go NOW!" Angela shouted and darted out the door. She had never ran faster in her entire life than she had now. Winston followed, taking huge leaps. Exiting the Cathedral, they found Lena laying still on the floor twenty-feet away. Angela activated the Valkyrie suit and flew to Lena. Landing on her feet, she crouched down. Shaking Lena, there was no response for a minute or two. All of a sudden-when Angela was worrying the most-Lena jolted up and started trying to get away.

"Lena, it's me!" Angela shouted.

Lena knew that voice.

"Ange? I need medical attention; Widowmaker broke my jaw. Or at least I think she did. I'm going to kill that bitch! I tried to help her, and this is how she repays me?" Even though she said it, Lena secretly had no intentions to do so. But evidently Angela believed her, because she looked at Lena in concern.

"What happened to her being your wife?"

Lena did a double-take as she remembered that Angela had heard the conversation in French. "Widowmaker's not my wife; Amélie is."

"Well, do what you will, but first you need to come back with me so I can treat your injuries."

"Okay, mom!" Lena teased.

Angela sighed; that was positively the single most annoying joke she could think of. But as long as Lena was alive to make it, Angela didn't mind as much. Overwatch was like family, and Angela didn't want to lose anyone else to Widowmaker. Or to anyone else for that matter.

* * *

Returning to the Overwatch base under the Cathedral, Angela treated Lena's broken jaw. When that was done, Lena walked out to the front to get some air and was in time to see Jack arrive.

"Fuck you Morrison! Talon bitch? Seriously?" Lena said, irritated.

"Guess what, kid? She killed someone. Since you heard me say that to Torbjörn, you must have heard me express that concern. And I was right."

"Zarya tried to kill her! It was self-defense!"

"I heard all about it from Winston. Anyway, what happened between you two? I figured you'd be together, like in the pictures."

"I ran after her. She broke my jaw and ran away."

"Hate to tell you this kid, but whatever shit Talon did to make Widowmaker isn't easily reversed."

"Easy for you to say, and easier still for me to refute! I helped Amélie remember!"

"Believe whatever you want to believe. I have to stick to the facts. Anyway, there's gonna be a meeting in a minute or two; you coming?"

"Considering Widowmaker doesn't want to be around me anymore, obviously."

"Then let's go. I hear Genji asked his 'Teacher' to come over here all the way from Nepal."

"Zenyatta?!" Lena said excitedly. Ever since Tekartha Mondatta's assassination, she had always wanted to see Zenyatta and apologize for failing to protect Mondatta. She blinked ahead of Jack into the meeting area and saw Genji talking to an Omnic who was able to levitate somehow. She assumed that the Omnic was Zenyatta. They both turned and saw her.

"Hiya!" Lena said.

"Peace be upon you." Zenyatta replied.

"You must be Tracer. I understand you were there when Mondatta passed into the Iris," He continued.

"Yes sir, I was. I'm so sorry. I tried so hard to stop the Widowmaker."

"Fret not, child. It was his destiny. He was going to pass into the blessed repose of the Iris eventually. You did all that was in your power to do. Worry your soul about the Widowmaker instead. She is a creature who has lost its path. No one is beyond help, and the future is not pre-ordained."

With that, Zenyatta turned; the meeting beginning.

"May I talk to you on the subject of Widowmaker after this meeting?"

"Absolutely." He cheerily intoned.

 _He doesn't even bear a grudge against her for killing Mondatta!_ Lena thought.

"Alright everyone, this meeting is in order." The loud voice of Winston intoned.

Everyone snapped to attention. The crew was basically the same as the previous meeting, with the exceptions of Tracer and Zenyatta, who were attending.

"At this point, we have reason to believe that Widowmaker has resurfaced. She killed Alexsandra Zaryanova, who it seems, wanted to kill her as payback for the almost successful assassination attempt on Katya Volskaya that she was a part of. She fled, and is presently roaming the streets. We have to find her and-"

"Excuse me, what are we planning to do to Widowmaker when we catch her?" Lena inquired.

"At this rate, we have no choice but to kill her, since it seems that she is incapable of permanently shaking off her programming. Anyone have any problems with that?"

"That's fine with me." Lena lied.

Zenyatta shot a glance at Lena, and, seeing the discord in her soul, he realised that she was lying. He smiled; glad that there was at least one other person present who believed Widowmaker deserved second chances.

"I believe that she is innocent." Genji stated.

Zenyatta flashed a smile before turning to Winston. He had taught Genji well.

"May I speak, Winston?" The Omnic sage inquired.

"What is it?"

"Though she eased the passing of my brother Mondatta into the warmth of the Iris, I bear her no grudge. I haven't seen her at all; not in person, and no pictures have-"

"We have some pictures that she and I took, if you want to see them, Zen." Lena cheerily stated.

"How wonderful! I should like to look at those for a short span of time, before returning my opinion. The Widowmaker is a lost creature, deserving of a second chance, as decreed by the forgiving Iris, who would turn no seeker away."

Lena handed him the pictures and was startled when Zenyatta lowered himself closer to the floor and entered what seemed like a trance state. All of a sudden the pictures started to levitate in front of him. The orbs that floated around him lit up sporadically and rang like bells.

He laughed and, returning the pictures to Lena, he raised himself to the previous elevation he had maintained.

"I sense a duality in the entity we call Widowmaker. There are two beings waging relentless war for control of her body. One is the cold, unfeeling Widowmaker, and the other is the innocent and charming lady who is in these pictures. We could permanently purge the Widowmaker from the body of Amélie Lacroix, but it would require help from the-"

"Iris? You know the iris is a part of the human eye right?" Jack mocked.

Zenyatta turned and inflicted an Orb of Discord upon Jack.

"You are your own worst enemy, Jack Morrison. If you do not change your hateful ways, you will lose yourself in the cold reaches of the Iris' shadows."

"That's not my name, Gandhi." Jack lied. He was startled as to how Zenyatta seemed to know his name even through the mask.

"No secret is safe from the Iris." Zenyatta replied nonchalantly.

"Putting all that aside, we've got to tread carefully." Winston said.

"We have no reason to believe Widowmaker isn't going back to Talon right now. And she has our location. We have to capture her, and if that won't work, we have to kill her." Jack said.

"All in favor of detaining the Widowmaker?"

Everyone raised a hand.

"Now the question is what will we do with her. All in favor of deadly force, raise your hand."

Jack, Lena, and Reinhardt raised a hand.

"All in favor of the non-lethal option raise your hand."

Zenyatta, McCree, Angela, Genji, Winston and Torbjörn raised a hand.

"The count is three for lethal to six for non-lethal. Non-lethal has it. Meeting adjourned." Winston said.

Lena motioned to Zenyatta, who floated over. They walked to her room, wherein she turned and sat down. Looking at Zenyatta, she had more questions than before.

"How hard would it be to fix Amélie?"

"First she must be found. When she is safely here, I would have to talk to her. Invoking the Iris, I would try to purge the memories of the Widowmaker from her mind."

"That's the thing, she wants her memories; she wants to burn Talon to the ground, but she can't do that if she doesn't remember the atrocities they forced her to perform in their name. Is there any way where you could remove the programming but leave all else intact?"

"It is up to the Iris."

"On that note, I know where she is. Would you mind if we were to go visit her?"

"I should be delighted to help her find her way. I wish to bring Genji with me as well, however."

"Why?"

"Because Omnics are still hated in this place. The kind souls who agree with Omnic rights are forced to hide that sentiment, or live underground. Genji would be a prime example of how Omnic and human can co-exist should anyone seek to bar our way, and also, I wish for protection."

"Alright, that's fine with me."

"Genji my student, would you please step this way?" Zenyatta called.

Genji walked over.

"What is it, master?"

"Lena knows where Amélie is; we are going to visit her and try to help her. I would greatly appreciate it if you were to come with us."

"Very well. When do we leave?"

"The sooner the better." Lena stated tensely. She was worried that the longer they stayed in a huddle, the more time Winston or Jack would have to notice their absence and get suspicious. Who knows? Maybe they'd try to follow them too! Lena did not want them to find out Amélie's location because they tarried too long at the Cathedral.

"Let's go." Genji replied.


	12. Catharsis

Standing outside Lena's flat, the three of them had reached an agreement. Lena had remembered that Sombra was there, so she was going to go first and let Amélie and Sombra know the situation so that neither of them accidentally shot Zenyatta; ruining Amélie's only hope of casting off the Widowmaker programming.

Pressing her key into the lock, she entered her five digit key code. Two security systems made her feel a whole lot more safe than just one. Especially in the gritty streets of King's Row.

She walked in to find Sombra's SMG trained to her head.

"We really need to stop meeting like this, _chica_." Sombra said as she lowered her gun.

"I-I uh. uh... Amélie?" Lena was at a loss for words.

" _Oui_?"

"You've got some visitors. They mean you no harm, so don't shoot. Same goes for you Sombra."

"What about me?" A gravelly voice intoned.

Lena was surprised to find Reaper walk out of her kitchen with both shotguns drawn.

"Reaper, you ought to know that Overwatch policy is to kill you on sight. And anyway, yes it does apply to you so please, don't shoot. What are you doing here?"

"I come as Gabriel Reyes. Sombra informed me that Widowmaker re-emerged; killing the Russian in self-defense. She said that she'd appreciate added protection for Amélie in case any 'Overwatch scum' comes knocking."

"Well, someone from Overwatch has come, but he's a voice of reason, so don't shoot. The other is a teacher of sorts."

"Who's our Overwatch visitor? If it's Jack, I'll kill him." Reyes growled.

"It's Genji."

"Him I can stand; I worked with him a little bit back in the Blackwatch days."

"Genji, Zen, you can come in." Lena said through the open door.

The two of them walked in, Zenyatta remaining in his state of perpetual levitation.

Upon seeing the black-robed Reaper, Genji immediately raised his short sword to chest level in front of him, preparing to block the shots he figured were undoubtedly coming. When no shots were fired, Genji wondered why Reaper wasn't shooting, and what he was doing there.

"Interesting friends you have, Lacroix. Why is he here?" He said, directing his statement to Lena.

"I'm here to keep Amélie safe, should anyone from your club seek to avenge the Russian bitch."

"Why would I hold a grudge against Amélie for defending herself?"

"This is all beside the point luvs, Zenyatta's 'ere to help Amélie purge the Widowmaker from her mind while still retaining the skills of a world-class assassin."

"Is that possible?" Amélie gasped.

"The Iris can do a great many things, child." Zenyatta stated.

"Then please, by all means continue."

* * *

An hour passed, in which Zenyatta did his best to purge the entity that was Widowmaker from Amélie's consciousness, at the end of that hour she still felt the urge to kill.

"It didn't work! I crave the kill even now!" She lamented.

"Fret not child, the Iris shall cleanse the discord that lay coiled tightly around your soul. It will simply take some time before harmony finds you." Zenyatta lectured.

"If it works, how can I repay you?" Amélie asked, figuring that Zenyatta was one of those 'enlightened' who would 'help' people and then charge ungodly sums of money afterwards.

"The iris suffers no sums of money for the redemption of souls in distress, child."

Amélie stared at a loss for words, having no clue what he meant. Fortunately for her, Lena caught on to her plight.

"He means that redeeming people is a reward in and of itself." She whispered in Amélie's ear.

Amélie nodded ever so slightly.

Turning around to depart, Zenyatta stopped and inflicted an Orb of Harmony upon Amélie.

"You will walk the path of harmony, child. It will just take time."

Genji turned to accompany Zenyatta, who didn't get far before Amélie asked.

"How much time?"

"Only the Iris knows; peace be upon you."

Zenyatta and Genji walked out, headed back to the Overwatch base.

Reaper didn't believe that whole 'Iris' crap, but he decided beforehand that he'd hold his tongue if there was a possibility that it would help Lacroix to find some semblance of the peace she had had before Talon decided she was an assassin in the making.

"How do you feel now?" He asked her.

"I still crave the kill, but I feel like it will be easier to resist the urge."

"So it may have helped you, chica?" Sombra asked.

"I think so."

Reaper shifted uncomfortably.

"Well I guess my work here is done."

 _"Oui, Gabriel, merci."_ Amélie replied.

"No one left behind." He said before turning into a cloud of smoke and ash, leaving as discreetly as he could.

Sombra had things to do, but they could wait if Amélie still needed protection. But she figured the Lacroixes' could protect themselves, if it came to that. However, she would not take that for granted and decided she would ask.

"Do you still want me to stick around or can I go? I've still got some things to do."

"Amélie and I can protect each other, so you can go. Thanks for your help though." Lena said.

"Eh, don't worry about it, it was no problem. But make sure you treat her right, you hear me Lena Lacroix?"

"I do, and I will."

 _"Bueno, chica."_

So saying, Sombra departed, leaving Amélie and Lena to themselves.


	13. The Hunt

Evening wore off to night when Amélie and Lena went to bed. The last thing Amélie remembered before falling asleep was how comfortable she felt, and moreover, how safe she felt.

She woke up six hours later to find Lena laying there with her throat slit, and her blood drenching the sheets. Amélie looked at her hands and noticed a bloody knife in her left hand. Her Widowmaker bodysuit was also drenched in Lena's blood.

"LENA! NO! LENA, I'M SORRY!" Amélie screamed.

* * *

Lena Lacroix was jolted awake in the early hours after midnight to hear Amélie screaming in her sleep.

Quickly Lena started shaking her by the shoulders in a desperate attempt to get her to wake up.

Amélie woke up with a start, and, seeing Lena awake and alive, she threw off the blankets and ran sobbing into the bathroom, where she slammed and locked the door.

Lena got up and walked over, determined to find out what was wrong. Knocking on the door, she inquired

"Amélie, are you alright? Can you open the door?" She faintly heard Amélie say

"Go away!"

But Lena didn't want to, so she wasn't going to. And Amélie didn't want her to either, deep down. She was simply putting up a strong front in a moment of vulnerability.

"Amélie luv, I'm not leavin' until you open the door. And if you don't open the door, that's fine; I'll break it down. You're not okay, and I want to help you." Lena said softly.

Lena waited for a minute but still the door did not unlock. So she went to her tool-box in the kitchen and got out her lock-picking kit. Picking the lock took three minutes. It would have taken one, but she wanted to minimize noises so that Amélie wouldn't hear the sound of the door being unlocked over the sound of her weeping; if she heard, she might jam the lock shut with something. Unlocking it, Lena then pushed the door open to see Amélie sprawled out on the bathroom floor sobbing. Lena sat down next to her and pulled her upright into a hug, putting her head on Amélie's right shoulder.

"What happened luv?" Lena said softly, while gently pressuring Amélie to tell her what was wrong. Amélie relaxed into the hug, letting her head fall to Lena's shoulder.

Amélie started muttering rapid-fire French. The only word Lena caught was 'cauchemar', which she knew meant nightmare. She immediately started rubbing Amélie's back, hoping once again that she could soothe Amélie by something so simple, and yet so effective.

"You had a nightmare? What was it about?"

"I don't want to remember it."

"You killed me didn't you? In your nightmare, I mean." Lena asked. She felt Amélie bobbing her head up and down on her shoulder, and felt only empathy.

"Well luv, you actually have killed me before, and I didn't hold it against you, so if you killed me in your dream, I'm not likely to hold that against you either."

"I slit your throat; your blood was everywhere!"

"So?!" Lena asked rhetorically

"Lena Elizabeth Oxton!" Lena cringed when Amélie used her full name and ended it with Oxton instead of Lacroix.

" _Sacrebleu!_ For once in your damned life take something fucking seriously! I am a walking time bomb, ready to turn into a killing machine and kill you! Doesn't that make you worry?"

"No. Because I know who you are, under the shell. You are Amélie Lacroix. Gentle, lovely and kind; you wouldn't hurt a fly. But now, Amélie is in control of that beautiful body there, not Widowmaker, while still retaining all the skills of the assassin you were forced to be. And to top it all off, you're my wife. I've got nothin' to worry about."

Amélie laughed mirthlessly.

"I don't deserve you."

"Actually luv, I'm pretty sure that I don't deserve you. All that shit that Talon put you through? I'm doing my best to help you through that. Gerard would be so happy to see you this way. Well, in control of your own destiny, I mean."

"Lena why must you lie to soothe my feelings?"

"How am I lying? All of that was true!"

"No, it was not. You and I both know that the first sentence out of your mouth was a lie."

"Well what the fuck do you want me to say, Amélie? That you don't deserve me?!"

"Yes! Speak the truth!"

"Okay fine, you don't deserve me, the magnificent, do-no-wrong Lena Oxton! Happy?!"

" _Oui._ "

"But at the end of the day, who gives a fuck who deserves who? We're together, that's all that matters! I care for you Amélie, and I couldn't be bothered to give a fuck if you think you don't deserve me, cause I'll never leave you!"

"Now, all that aside, let's go back to bed."

"What if Wido-"

"Ah-ah! I don't want to hear another word on that score! As of this minute, we're putting all that 'Widowmaker might kill you' shit behind us, luv. That won't make me leave you."

"If I think you're in even the slightest danger because of me, I won't hesitate to leave."

"Amélie, I'd find you and I'd bring you back to me."

Lena sighed a short breath. "Amélie, please trust me to know what I'm doing. This right here," So saying, Lena placed a hand on Amélie's chest so she could feel her rapidly beating heart. Amélie's breath hitched at the contact.

"This right here is you; is Amélie Lacroix. And it's all I want. I want you to be you. And if, in the end that doesn't involve me, I'd be okay with that. As long as it was what was best for you." So saying she took her hand off Amélie's chest before either of them felt uncomfortable. Little did she know that Amélie was already feeling hot and bothered.

"Does this mean you are my better half then, Lena Lacroix?" Amélie said smirking.

"You're already a good person, but if that's what you want it to mean, then that's what it means."

"I'll never not love you, Lena."

"Aww, you can be so soft when you want to." Lena teased.

"Only one question remains however."

"Whazzat luv?"

"In all our time being together, we have never talked about what we want this relationship to be, and I want to iron this out. Is this going to be a platonic relationship, or will we be able to express our love?"

"I mean, I rather hope not luv. But it's up to you; you decide based on whatever you think would be best for you."

After hardly a single moment of consideration, Amélie knew which one she wanted.

"I think I know what I've decided..." she whispered in Lena's ear. Lena shivered and felt weak at the knees. Fortunately for her they were still sitting down.

"Ahm, p'raps we should take this over to the bed then, luv."

"As you wish." Amélie said slowly, with a sultry voice.

Screams and moans alike were muffled that night.

* * *

They woke in the early hours of morning feeling well rested. It was around ten o'clock, and Lena wanted to do some shopping. But first she had some things she needed to do here. Stretching, she was reminded of what they did last night when she felt super sore, but the good kind of sore.

"Bleedin' hell, Ams, you're amazing! Since when do you have a cock anyway?"

"In my recent down-time, I disguised myself and visited a surgeon, who apparently has 'cracked the algorithm that allows men to impregnate women, but not women other women' as she put it. I asked if it would be possible for me to be changed in such a way, and she was able to perform the operation."

"What was the operation?"

"I was unconscious when she did it, but she said that she had needed to make some alterations to my genetic code to allow for a 'male end'. _Merde_ , she has the worst ways of saying these things. When I woke up, she said I needed to pay her, and then I could go. So I did, and here we are."

"Well I feel great, in a after-sex kind of way, ya know."

"You do realize that we made a promise by doing what we did last night, correct?"

"What promise are you talking about, Amélie?"

"We have six months to destroy Talon so our child will be safe; we are both enemies of Talon. Sure, they may think I'm dead, but they have you in their crosshairs. They will either try to kill you or capture you."

"Pregnancies take nine months luv."

"You won't be able to fight after the first six, therefore, they must be destroyed before six months, if possible. If not, you could stay on base while I go on missions, and that would give me even more incentive to make it home safely."

"Oi, I could fight even if I was eight months along, I think!"

"I won't let you fight any time after six months."

"Fine. But we'll still take them out, don't you worry about that, _amour_."

"I won't, yet. I will worry instead about shopping."

"Well, that's definitely warranted, as you'll need to change clothes and put on that disguise you used recently."

" _Oui._ Give me ten minutes to prepare, and then we can go."

"You got it."

* * *

It was a bright and sunny morning, and the market had a pleasant hum of activity. It had all gone well until twelve o'clock when who should Lena run into but Reinhardt Wilhelm.

"Lena? What are you doing here?"

"Hiya to you too, big guy! I happen to be shopping; why do you ask?"

Motioning for Lena to come closer, Reinhardt bent down a little bit to whisper in her ear.

"Where is Amélie?"

"Right here, Monsieur Wilhelm."

Reinhardt jumped a little when he saw her, what with her being a world famous assassin and all.

Pulling her close to Lena so that they could both could hear him, he continued whispering.

"You shouldn't be here! Vinston has mobilized all ze old crew to look for you two. Zey are all here, in zis market looking for you! You, Genji and Zenyatta weren't subtle enough when you left. Jack got suspicious, and talked to Vinston about it. Zey know vere your sympathies lie, Lena. You must get out of here!"

"What about the groceries?"

"I'll pay for zem and take zem to your flat, you can pay me later. Get out of here fast!"

"Reinhardt, sound off. Any sighting?" The gruff voice of Jack Morrison came over the comm unit that Wilhelm carried with him.

Putting his finger to his lips to indicate silence, he answered.

"Negative, zey are not here. Moving to Sector 6. Reinhardt out."

"What's Sector 6, luv?" Lena asked. Looking back at Amélie, Lena noticed that Amélie had zoned out. There was a distant look in her eyes and she was scanning the environment.

"The north-east side of the market."

"Damn it! That's where the exit is!" Lena said quietly.

"Stay low, and follow me from afar. I'll look ze ozer way when you slip through."

"Thanks, Rein. You didn't have to do this."

"I don't trust Jack. I remember Amélie from back when Gerard zrew zat party after buying off a Talon commander as a double agent. It was a little bit before your time, Lena." Reinhardt said.

"You were an innocent girl Amélie. I zink you still are; ze villains at Talon are responsible for ze Widowmaker's murder spree, not you. I won't stand by while Jack detains you or anything like zat. It would be dishonourable."

" _Merci_ , Reinhardt. We owe you." Amélie said truthfully.

"Zank me when you are safe." Reinhardt said in his 100% German accent.

Skirting around market stalls while generally staying low, Amélie and Tracer safely made it to the exit when they were spotted.

"All agents, targets seen at the exit, they got past Reinhardt, and they're getting away on foot! Form up on me and move it out; shoot to wound. To kill if fired upon." Jack thundered into the comm.

"Oh boy. We gotta run now Amélie. Run!" Lena said.

They had been running for three minutes down streets when they came up on a T shaped intersection. Hooking it to the right and clambering onto a building via the staircase, they got up safely.

They made it just in time to hear Jack come running by and checking the alley that the path led to.

"They're not here. Team, how's it looking out there?" he demanded.

Amélie snickered slightly when she heard Jack say that. She couldn't help it. They should have known to check on buildings. The Widowmaker could always be found on buildings when taking out a target, so why would it be different if she were to use a rooftop to hide from a target?

Amélie didn't notice Genji climb up on the building. Neither did Lena. Amélie only noticed him when he had his hands on her throat. Looking to her right she saw Tracer unconscious.

"I'm sorry for this, Amélie. I won't let them kill either of you."

"If Lena-comes to harm, I'll kill everyone you-know and love." Amélie gasped out. Genji didn't look particularly scared by that threat.

"If either of you come to harm, I will personally hurt the one responsible to an equal degree. I will keep you two safe, just trust me."

* * *

Amélie awoke in silence to find three solid walls and a set of bars around her. Looking to her right, she saw Lena. Presently asleep.

"So they put me in a cage..." She scoffed.

"O'course they did darlin', you killed Zaryanova." Amélie looked past the bars to see a faint cigar glow in a pitch black room. Jesse McCree leaned up to the illuminated cell.

"They just want you to answer for that, then they'll let you go."

"McCree."

"The one and only," He shrugged.

"For what it's worth Amélie, me and Genji both opposed you being caged up."

"I don't hold it against you, I hold it against Commander Jack Morrison."

"The late. He's dead now, you don't remember?" McCree lied.

"I remember being forced to kill Gerard, and then Ana. I know that after that, Overwatch started to implode after news of Blackwatch's existence spilled out into public knowledge. And then, it exploded. Literally. I am aware that the Swiss HQ explosion claimed the lives of John 'Jack' Morrison and Gabriel Reyes, but I am also aware that neither of them are truly dead."

"Did you just say Gabe's alive?"

"Just as Jack has become the vigilante Soldier: 76, Gabriel Reyes lives on as Reaper, the edge-lord." Amélie said with a wry smirk.

"I see you ain't lost your humour. But let me get this straight, Gabriel's a fucking terrorist now?"

" _Oui_."

McCree gripped the handle of Peacekeeper so hard his knuckles turned white.

"I don't even wanna believe it."

"Ask Angela." Amélie drily said before laying down next to Lena. The only response she elicited from McCree was a snort and his departure.

The only response she elicited from Lena however, was that she sleepily mumbled her name and adjusted her position a bit to allow Amélie to snuggle in closer, who fell asleep hardly a minute later.

Five minutes later, a loud rattling was heard as Jack Morrison shook the bars of the cage. Amélie and Lena jolted up into a sitting position.

Light flooded the room as Jack flipped a switch. Disorienting Amélie and Lena.

"Wake-y wake-y sleepyheads." Satisfied with the results, Jack started pacing.

"Now, Amélie, the only reason you're here for is to answer for killing Zarya. If it was up to me you'd answer for all your crimes against humanity as Widowmaker. I don't buy this Talon brainwashing story, but that's just me."

"I won't forget this, Jack. If you hurt her, run and fucking hide, 'cause I'll hunt you down until I find you." Lena said.

"Lena, you were the brightest of us all. You were the face of Overwatch's Second fucking Generation! I want to know; why did you give it all up to play murderer and redeemer?" Jack wearily asked.

"Because she needed help! She was suffering at Talon, not that you'd know about that you self-righteous piece of shit! You probably believe you've never done anything wrong in your life!" Lena shouted while subconsciously reaching her left hand out to take Amélie's right.

"No. I've done bad shit in my life, but nothing takes the cake quite like Amélie's one hundred plus confirmed kills!"

"They aren't her kills, and there is no way in hell you've killed anything less than three fucking times that number, _Commando 76_. Yeah, that's right; you fought America's wars before there even was a Talon! Before the Omnic Crisis was ever a thing you were getting your hands bloody!"

"How do you know about the Soldier program?! That project was top-secret!" Jack thundered.

"Then how does Gabriel Reyes know about it, over at Talon?" Amélie asked rhetorically.

"What did you just say, Widowmaker?"

"You heard me. If it was so top-secret, how does Gabriel Reyes know about it?"

"Gabriel's dead. Been that way since the Swiss Headquarters exploded."

Amélie was shocked that Jack didn't even know that his former best friend was alive. Taking a page from the Widowmaker's book, she chuckled coldly, like she had done four weeks ago tomorrow, when she murdered Tekartha Mondatta. On her right side, Lena shuddered.

"Even McCree knows that is a lie."

"We'll see about this." Jack scowled as he left the cells.

Genji entered the cell area just as Jack left. He had little to say, except for the words I'm sorry, which wasn't exactly what either of them wanted to hear at the moment.

Darting his arms past the bars, he slipped a key through to Amélie, along with a note. And at the same time, for the sake of cover-there were cameras in the room-said the following words.

"I hope you make use of this opportunity to ponder your crimes."

Amélie read the note.

 _"I picked Morrison's pocket to get this key as we passed each other in the corridor. When you escape, you will have ten minutes to get as far away as possible before we give chase. If I or McCree catch you, we will protect you both."_

The two of them now had a way out...

* * *

 **Author's Note: Yes indeed, ladies and gents, this story is reaching the present day, and in the next chapter I'll be tying it all together. It'll be good, I hope. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. And also, I tried my best to come up with a relatively plausible story for how Amélie could have children with Lena that would be one hundred percent their DNA, and not an adopted child.** **I'm not entirely sure I'm gonna stick with this particular explanation, and it's entirely possible that I'll change it. Once again, reviews/PMs would be appreciated.**


	14. The Hunt Continues

Escaping was easy. They had been on the run for ten minutes when, just as Genji said, Overwatch realized what happened and followed them.

They ducked down corridors and took back-alleys. They scaled walls and vaulted fences. It was still not enough to shake their pursuers. The sun was mostly down already, but they ran until the last vestige of sunlight slipped and faded, and the moon shone bright. Oft, McCree or Genji would come close to capturing them, but they never could. McCree, for the sake of pretense, pulled out Peacekeeper and aimed at Amélie.

His voice echoed through the street.

"I have her in my sight."

To which Morrison replied

"Shoot her! End her now!"

"I can't! She was my friend!"

"Then I will!"

Morrison, drew level with McCree and shoulder charged him while trying to get his hands on Peacekeeper, as he hadn't had time to bring his pulse rifle along. McCree fought to maintain control of his gun, but in the struggle, a bullet discharged, and Amélie screamed. She was hit in the leg.

"I'll find you Morrison. You'll never be safe from me!" Lena shouted from ahead.

McCree, meanwhile had gained control of Peacekeeper, and clocked Jack in the face with his metallic arm.

"Heheheh. Smarts don't it?" He taunted.

Jack fell to the ground, with a broken nose. Deploying his Biotic Field, he was out of the hunt and he knew it.

The chase continued, ending in Lena throwing a Pulse Bomb at Winston's shield and slipping out of their line of sight.

* * *

Amélie awoke, and Lena was rocking back and forth on a chair. Lena darted over to her and hugged her.

"Amélie, I'm sorry. I did what I had to."

"I-ah!"

Amélie tried opening her mouth to speak but felt pain emanating from her jaw.

"I see. Widowmaker attacked?"

"That's right."

"Give me the Caduceus staff, please."

"I forgot it at my flat. Do you want me to get it?"

" _Oui_."

"Alright, but first I have to inject you with this." So saying, Lena held up a syringe.

"What is it?"

"It's an anti-biotic formula designed to enter the bloodstream and purge any contaminants. Developed by none other than Angela Ziegler."

That was a blatant lie. It was a saline solution that safely housed a micro-chip, which would allow Lena to track Amélie within a radius of two hundred miles. She didn't want to do it, but she knew that Amélie would make good with her threat and leave if she thought she was endangering Lena. And when she realized that Widowmaker attacked Lena, her face hardened. She was planning something drastic, and Lena knew it.

Amélie held out her arm for Lena, and grimaced when the needle pierced her skin. Depressing the plunger, Lena carefully withdrew the syringe.

"You're all good." Lena said smiling cheerfully.

" _Merci, ma cherie_."

"Don't go anywhere, please. Overwatch is still hunting us."

"I won't." Amélie lied.

And Lena knew it was a lie. She was used to Amélie's speech patterns, and that sounded nothing like her normal voice; the intonation, the cadence, both of them were markedly different.

Just as soon as Lena departed for her flat to get the Caduceus staff, Amélie departed to make her way to Big Ben. There was only one thing she could do to keep Lena safe, and that was leave. She didn't want to go back to Talon, and she didn't want to be murdered by Overwatch. Going on the run from both of them without Lena? Out of the question. Death with dignity was the only thing she had left. Lena had already reached the flat with the Caduceus staff in tow when she saw Amélie gone.

" _Why am I not surprised?_ " She thought aloud.

On the table however, was a handwritten note.

Lena snatched it up and read it.

 _Salut, Lena Oxton, my dearest one. If you are reading this, then death will find me soon. I'm sorry for lying to you, but I love you so much; too much to stay and endanger you just for my benefit. I have loved you since you helped me remember who I was, I just couldn't muster the courage to risk telling you earlier. Our dance has been one big story of sorrow and grief, and yet it has also been one of great love. But alas, my time is up. Time is the enemy of all mortals, and I am long-lived, and long-suffered. Being with you was the catalyst that perpetually let my heart sing aloud with joy_ _, but I can no longer keep up the charade that you and I are safe together. I don't want to hurt you, and yet, if I know you-which I do-you'll be hurt anyway. Hurt that I would kill myself before you had the chance to even say goodbye. Life is a bitch, I suppose. I apologize that our child will never know me, but I would rather it was this way then that you had to put up with me endangering you. Endangering both of you. Even in death you will always be the oxygen that keeps my heart beating with love. -Amélie Lacroix_

Lena had to blink away tears when she read those words. But she wasn't going to allow Amélie to die. Pulling the tracker out of her pocket, she saw that Amélie was halfway to Big Ben. Lena grabbed the note and set off to catch her. Using her blinking ability very liberally, she would be able to catch up and wait for Amélie inside Big ol' Ben. Arriving at Big Ben, she checked the tracker and saw that Amélie was minutes out. So she darted inside and hid.

* * *

I arrived at Big Ben to see no signs of Lena. Something was wrong, however. I could feel her presence, and yet there was no way she was here. I brushed it off telling myself that I missed her, and that it was unfair that I had to do this, and that that got me thinking of her. I grappled to the pointed spire on Big Ben, and was prepared to leap when I heard the voice I never expected to hear again. Lena.

"Amélie! Come down from there; you don't have to do this!" She wailed, with tears in her eyes.

Turning to look at her, I smiled sadly.

"Even if I didn't, I still would to keep you safe." I said. Tipping backwards off the building, I fell. Falling through the air, I saw Lena jump off and blink down to me.

"Don't!" I weakly pleaded.

"Bear our child! Bring Talon down!" I begged.

"If you're dying luv, so am I." She said quietly, but with determination.

" _Sacrebleu!_ "

So saying, I grappled back up to a building. Lena recalled. Blinking over from Big Ben, she landed on the same building I was on. I didn't have time to utter a word before she bitch-slapped me in the face. I deserved it.

* * *

My hand hurt as it made contact with her beautiful face. I swear she has one of those glass-breaker chins, and it looks so beautiful. I didn't want to hit her, but I had to. It was the only way I could get her to understand what I was feeling.

I'd say betrayal was the number one feeling.

She walked up to me and tried to hug me, but I got my hands on her shoulders and shoved for all I was worth. She stumbled backwards for six feet and fell flat on her back.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why would you do this?"

"Déjà vu, ma cherie." I noticed her sitting up as she said the words.

"Stay down, or I'll make you." I threatened.

Standing up, she crossed her legs and sat back down, holding herself up by leaning on one arm behind her while she rested the other one on her lap.

Looking around, I noticed that this was the same roof top where I tackled her for killing Mondatta four weeks ago. Fuck Mondatta, he wasn't why I was here.

"Why would you do this to me? You just up and decided that you know what's best for the both of us! I love you, and you were gonna just willy-nilly fucking kill yourself! How is that love?!" I demanded, displaying the note.

"Romeo and Juliet." She said.

"What?" I asked, irritated.

"It's an old play from a long time ago. At the end, Romeo dies, and in her grief Juliet kills herself. I was Juliet, but this time, I was determined to kill myself so that my Romeo-she pointed at me-doesn't have to die."

"Dammit Amélie, how many fucking times will I have to tell you that I'd rather die than live without you!"

"Just once, ma cherie." So saying, Amélie jumped to her feet and held her arms out. I bolted over and accepted the hug.

"I love you so much it hurts to be without you, Lena."

"The same is true from me to you."

"I wanted to keep you safe, and that was what gave me the push to ensure your safety. Even if it would cost my life."

"If it comes down to it, I'll protect myself if Widowmaker attacks. I won't kill you though; never that. Now, let's go back home; I got the staff."

On a rooftop away far to the south, Sombra was watching.

"Good. At this rate, they'll be ready in time for stage two." She said.


	15. Countdown to open War

Arriving home, they found Reinhardt, the German giant was waiting for them.

"You made it!"

He said rising to his feet.

"But you shouldn't be here; Jack told me to keep zis place under surveillance in case you two decided to lay low here. You must pack your zings and leave; I have a safehouse in Numbani, use it and get far away from here. I don't believe zey'll ever stop looking here for you two, so you must sever your ties to King's Row."

"What?!" Lena demanded, outraged.

"Move out of my home? I'm London; born and bred!"

"I'm afraid you must." Reinhardt said gravely.

"Lena, ma cherie, it must be done." Amélie interjected, trying to forestall any other arguement Lena might have had.

"But," Lena began before Amélie put her hand on Lena's stomach and said

"I will not rest while you are in danger. We're going to Numbani; when the time comes, you may come back to this place, but not until then!" Amélie said intently.

"Lena, are you pregnant?" Reinhardt asked, drawing the connection and not even bothering to ask who was the father. Having been around for a while, he was aware of the doctor that Amélie had been to, but he was unaware that Amélie had been to that doctor, until now. So he was very familiar with the whole lesbian thing; he fully figured that there was no father, but rather two mothers.

"Zat ist wunderbar!" He continued.

Amélie and Lena glanced at each other momentarily.

"Zen by all means, you really must go to Numbani! You must prioritize zese zings."

"Amélie, pack your things, cuz it looks like we're goin' to Numbani." Lena said weakly.

Reinhardt helped them pack, which was unnecessary, but greatly appreciated.

When they were ready to go, Reinhardt gathered them into a hug, and bade them farewell.

"My safehouse is in Unity Plaza. You'll know it when you see it!" He said cheerfully.

"Stay safe, and don't get spotted on the way. Also, Jack said he had some business in Numbani in the next few days, so now would be a good chance to jump him before he can jump you two."

"Merci, Reinhardt." Amélie said for what was not the first time, and would certainly not be the last time.

* * *

It was difficult getting through the airports without being spotted, but they did it. They were safely in a plane to Numbani International Airport with all their luggage in tow. Amélie was wearing some make-up and some contact lenses to mask the color of her eyes. They were casually talking to each other when a stewardess came up.

"Excuse me, are you perchance related to Amélie Lacroix?" She asked Amélie quietly.

Amélie looked at Lena for a sliver of a second longer before making eye contact with the stewardess.

"Who?" Amélie intoned.

"Amélie Lacroix. You know, the one and only Amélie Lacroix-professional ballerina?"

"I'm a fan of hers, and an amateur ballerina. I have this picture of her performing as Odette; I was hoping to get it signed, but then she died. You look somewhat similar to her, so I thought you might be related." So saying, she quietly slipped a picture into Amélie's left hand.

"I'm dead. You never brought this picture to me on this flight, you only asked us if we wanted a drink. If anyone asks, I signed it ten years ago when I was a ballerina. If you wish to show it to someone, don't do it on this plane. I'm dead and _cest comme ca_." Amélie said quietly as she signed the picture.

" _Merci_ , Amélie." The stewardess whispered as she returned to the stewardess area in the plane.

"You do realize you pretty much made her year, right?" Lena asked.

"Time will tell, after all, it is only July. She will have plenty of time to do things she will enjoy more than getting my autograph." Amélie said, dropping into a whisper as she finished the sentence.

* * *

The rest of the flight proved uneventful. Landing in Numbani, they were immediately impressed by its beauty. Sure they'd been here before, but it was always on opposing sides, and on a mission. No time to sight-see, and no time to lose trying to kill the other et cetera. Now they were together, it seemed only fitting that they enjoy the sights together.

"So, Reinhardt said the safehouse is in-" Lena's sentence was immediately cut short by a distinctly robotic African voice penetrating the air, and a loud crashing sound.

"Halt!"

Looking to their left they saw a car crashed into a quadripedal robot with a blaster for one arm. The car doors opened and out came three thugs who were trying to get some contraband narcotics and guns onto a plane and get out of Numbani. Pulling their guns out they started shooting at the robotic guardian. Lena had heard of this robot; Orisa, the brain child of a young genius named Efi Oladele.

Orisa put her left arm out in front of her and her whole chassis took on a gold sheen.

"Establishing defense mode."

Lena wasn't sure how it worked, but the alloy her shell was made of was a gold/steel composite that could alter with the proper amount of electricity, turning her shell solid gold, and giving her a good weight with which to remain in place. Enough to stop cars and charging rhinos alike. The bullets pinged off her chassis as she shot a small graviton field at the criminals. They collided into each other hard enough to render them unconscious. Looking behind the crashed car, Orisa saw at least ten more cars, trying to get into the airport. Seeing that, Orisa lifted the car and put it on the sidewalk.

"Please move forward in an orderly fashion." She directed the drivers of the aforementioned cars.

"Thank you for your cooperation." She said when the ten cars were safely in the airport.

"Efi will not be happy about this." She muttered, surveying a score of small dents in her shell.

"That's Orisa, Numbani's one Omnic police force. They've been somewhat understaffed since Doomfist attacked. Genji, Winston and I had to fight him. I ended up getting my Chronal Accelerator broken, and I ended up in the Neverwhen again. Fortunately for me, Winston remembered the design schematics!" Lena whispered to Amélie. Walking over, she was halted when Orisa leveled her giant fusion driver at her.

"Hiya Orisa, I'm looking for Efi Oladele." Lena said.

"Why?" The centaur asked, not wanting anyone to do Efi harm.

"I understand she's your guardian as much as you are Numbani's."

"What business do you have that concerns either her or me?" Orisa inquired.

"Doomfist. Or more specifically Talon, the organization behind him. They've got several bases in Numbani that we're looking to destroy while we're here."

"Who are you?"

"Lena Oxton, or Tracer, if you prefer. I'm on Overwatch business."

For some reason it all felt funny to Lena Oxton that that was the second time she had lied to someone about being on Overwatch business. Only, she didn't care at present.

"And your companion?"

"Amélie Lacroix. Talon agent turned defector." Lena said quietly so no one else would here.

"Follow me." Orisa said as she walked away.

* * *

They had spoken with Orisa and Efi, securing Orisa's help with hitting the Talon bases and were heading back to the safehouse on Unity Plaza when Lena's phone rang. It was Reinhardt.

"Lena, Amélie, you must get out of zere fast! Jack called me and told me he needed to use ze safehouse, he said he was on ze ground in Numbani!"

"How long ago?"

"Twenty minutes."

"Then that means he'll be here any minute. Right, bigguy, I have to go, I don't want him hearing me as he walks to the door and stuff. He hurt Amélie and I have to make him pay. Don't worry, I won't kill him, but you better get Ange to come over here. Or contact Vishkar and get Symmetra to whip up a portal. For a price of course. He won't be wanting to get to a hospital what with the whole Soldier: 76 thing."

 _"Although maybe he should be admitted to a hospital so that the world will know who Soldier: 76 is. He'll probably get a pardon in lieu of his contributions to the world as Overwatch Strike Commander, and maybe just maybe it will get the UN to investigate the Overwatch collapse, maybe repeal the Petras act." She thought aloud._

"Lena, I beg you to reconsider! If you do zis zen people will automatically start drawing connections. Ze UN will assume zat Overwatch is back; potential members will be hassled and asked questions. Ze old crew will be asked if zey had any knowledge, if zey aren't considered implicit anyway!"

"The people have been clamoring for Overwatch to be re-legitimized for five years. I'm gonna give that to them."

"You will make enemies, know that."

"Rein, please believe me. I've got nothing but Overwatch's best at heart."

"So would you let Amélie be executed for ze lives she took as a Talon agent even if it was ze only zing was standing in ze way of Overwatch making legitimacy again?"

"Fuck no."

"I zought so. I believe you want what's best for Amélie, and zen Overwatch, and I understand zat. But please don't do ze wrong zing for ze right reasons."

"I'll do my best. Bye Rein, I'll call in thirty minutes." Lena said before sucker punching the hang-up button.

Looking at Amélie, she said quietly

"Hide! Hide fast!"

A minute or two later, they heard noise at the door. Jack unlocked the door and walked in. He was wearing street clothes, but he couldn't drop the mask just yet. It had a rebreather that he needed to breathe. When the Overwatch Swiss HQ blew up, he was badly hurt, and he inhaled an unhealthy amount of smoke while fighting off Blackwatch and Talon operatives in the burning remains of the building.

He shut the door behind him, and that was when Lena quietly stepped out from her hiding place.

"Hello Jack."

Laying a hand on his shoulder, she spun him around to face her while bringing her fist to his face. He crumpled to the floor. Ripping off his mask, Lena tossed it over to Amélie as she continued to beat Jack about the face.

"Hope ya got your Biotic Field you sonuvabitch! Amélie, don't let him get his hands on his mask; he needs it to breathe." she said, continually pummeling Jack's face with her fist.

"Looks like I'm being murdered by Overwatch. Funny how that works; Former Overwatch Strike Commander murdered by rogue agent! I can see the headline now." Jack wheezed.

A minute passed of Lena continually punching Jack, and his face was taking on a light blue tone.

"Amélie, give him a puff of air real quick."

Amélie pressed the mask to his face and watched carefully as Jack got a huge gulp of air. She stomped on his stomach, knocking almost half of the air out of him, not wanting him to have enough oxygen to fight.

"Why'd you hurt Amélie you bitch?" Lena demanded.

"Kid, she's not Amélie! God knows I wish she was. Now, she's just a suicide bomber on a lit fuse; waiting for the right moment to kill herself and as many others as she can manage before she herself dies. All thanks to Talon! Overwatch is what the world needs to be safe. It's been recalled, but hasn't made legitimacy. Air!"

As Jack said those words, he started sounding more and more out of breath until at the very end, he was hardly even audible. He had to wheeze out the word air.

Amélie let him breathe for a second or two before stomping on his stomach. Lena however, had stopped punching Jack by now.

"But we've done some good. We've fought Talon and kept them at bay. And now, you've jeopardized that just because you bought the sob story of their top agent. _Oh Lena, I was tortured so badly; please help! Take me to your base!_ Please." Jack scoffed.

Lena was about to reply when Amélie handed her the mask and shook her head.

"I understand your point, Jack Morrison, but I assure you I was tortured. I was a housewife, nothing more. So they had to torture me to get me in a battle-ready condition. They altered my heart rate so I am in a perpetual zen moment; snipers need a lot of those. My skin turned blue because of it. They didn't care. They gave me these tattoos without asking me. My mind was reset whenever there was the possibility of me regaining my memory. I was a weapon, not an agent."

"Give him some air, Lena" She interjected.

"No one cared except Reaper and Sombra. They did their best to help me survive; without them I would have died. But then Lena came along. My guardian angel dedicated to helping me separate Amélie from Widowmaker. I still struggle with the Widowmaker. She tries to take control, but Lena and I are looking into solutions. Zenyatta helped me, and I'm grateful. I'm not Widowmaker, but I still must struggle to stay on top. If I was, I would have killed you the second I saw you. I think this is all simply a misunderstanding, and I would like to start fresh."

So saying, Amélie took the Biotic Field from Jack and, activating it, placed it on the ground. She took the Soldier: 76 mask from Lena and clicked it back into place on Jack's face.

"But I'm not done beating the shit out of him, Amélie luv!" Lena said.

"Yes you are. If you hit him one more time, I will return to Talon to re-become the Widowmaker. I'm sure Talon would kindly welcome me back from the dead with several beatings, some electro-shock in the Chair, and a nice little bit of re-programming to top it all off. Because what could be better for a human than to live like an Omnic under a God Program? No free will, obey orders, nothing else."

"Alright fine, I'm done! I just wanted to hurt him because he hurt you, Amélie!"

" _Merci_ , but it's not necessary."

Jack stood to his feet and cracked his neck to the right, then to the left. Quick as a flash, he drew his sidearm and leveled it at Lena.

Amélie rolled her eyes and cleared her throat.

"If you're going to pull that trigger, level that gun at me first."

Jack re-oriented the gun, pointing it at Amélie's head.

"Jack, wait a minute! Amélie! What the fuck are you thinking?! I'd rather I took the bullet then you!"

"Trust me, _ma ange la vie_. Bear our child and tell her about her mother. This is where I get off." Amélie said winking.

"What the fuck are you saying? Lena's pregnant, and you're the father?! How the fuck does that work? You're a woman!" Jack demanded.

"You know what, I don't even want to know. Not if it means what I think it means." Jack decided.

"It means what you think it means." Amélie said smirking.

"THAT'S DISGUSTING! But whatever, to each his own, and all that shit. Anyway, that won't be necessary either; you dying, that is." Jack said, holstering his gun.

"But if I ever see the Widowmaker on top, I'll shoot to kill."

"Merci, monsieur Morrison." Amélie said gratefully.

"But I'm not leaving; so we're going to have to room for the next week or so. I've got some business in Numbani. Reinhardt said I could use this safehouse, and evidently he told you two the same thing."

"We didn't know you were coming until Lena heard you at the door." Amélie shamelessly lied. Her poker face was rock solid, so Jack didn't have any reason to doubt her. If he had only known that she had spent a half a decade at Talon bouncing back and forth between Amélie's memories and Widowmaker's 'I don't give a fuck' apathy. Whenever she was Amélie, she had to hide behind that poker face if she wished to retain her memories. Which she always did. Better to live with her memories and the pain of them then to not remember and unquestioningly murder more innocent people.

"So, I have one request, and one request only. If you're going to have sex while I'm here, please do so as quietly as you can manage when you're 'in the throes of ecstasy' or however they put it these days. We'll have to find out sleeping arrangements, and then there's the matter of maintaining the pantry. I can't just go to a market and buy food, so I reckon I can pay you back when we get back to King's Row."

"Sounds reasonable, except Amélie and I aren't going back for a bit. Amélie here is plenty sorry about Zarya, but the both of us don't plan on going back yet. We're gonna lay low for a while, let some of the heat die down."

"Yeah, that figures. Well then I'll give you some coins when I see you next. Around four hundred or so ought to cover it."

"Don't worry about it, Jack. I'm well off, I can handle it."

"You sure, Oxton?"

"No, Lena Oxton is not sure."

"Lena Lacroix, however, is sure." Said Lena pointedly.

"Whatever."

They ended up with the arrangement that the ladies took the bed-room, and Jack took the living room. As soon as the Lacroixes' left, Jack immediately felt that tug of danger. That instinct; that sixth sense. So, taking all the pillows, he hid them where they would not be easily found. Taking his Shotgun pistol, (One of those old ones from several decades ago.) he placed it on the nightstand, so that if Widowmaker came to assassinate him, she would easily have access to the loudest weapon Jack had on him. The noise of a shotgun blast at night would travel for almost a mile all around. All the nearby neighbors would be alerted, and there would be no way to get out without being seen by any of the hundred plus sets of eyes that would undoubtedly be looking at the safehouse like hawks until the Numbani police arrived. Or more specifically, Orisa. Next, Jack hid under the extra bed that he took from the bed-room. Now, if Widowmaker wanted to kill him quietly, by either strangling him or suffocating him, she would have to either pull him out, or move the bed that he was under. And he would subconsciously notice such a change to the environment, even if he was asleep, therefore he would have a chance to wake up. If Widowmaker didn't go for the gun, Jack felt he had a pretty good chance of getting it first, and shooting her. After all, he was a vigilante wanted world-wide. He didn't care if he made some noise while killing the Widowmaker, as he could just run away. He'd been doing that for a while now.

Widowmaker never came...

* * *

Lena was woken at dawn by Jack, who was in the full Soldier: 76 gear.

"Lena, I've got some leads I gotta check up on. I'll be back after mid-night; don't wait for me."

"You got it." Lena sleepily mumbled.

The rest of the day passed quite uneventfully. They visited Orisa and Efi and co-ordinated a date and time, and were working on an attack plan for hitting the Talon bases one at a time and got back at around seven P.M., planning to rest up for the hit tomorrow.

Jack got back sometime after twelve thirty, and flopped down to bed. When the light turned off in the living room, Lena and Amélie took off their clothes...

Amélie and Lena were halfway done fucking when Lena joked in between moans.

"Luv, if you fuck me much harder, I'll be permanently disabled; you'll have to sit me down in the chair over there. I'll never be able to move again for the rest of my natural... luv?" So saying, she noticed that Amélie had zoned out, her cock mid-thrust. Lena snapped her fingers in front of Amélie's face, and passed her hand up and down in front of her eyes. Amélie blinked a moment later and, looking down, she saw them both naked and fucking.

 _"Qu'est-ce, viol?"_ Widowmaker asked herself.

"Uh, no Amélie luv, it's not rape, you agreed to this." Lena said in English.

Amélie blinked again and made eye contact with Lena. Only now did Lena notice that Amélie's eyes had taken on that cold, unfeeling shark eyes look. They gleamed coldly golden. The eyes of the Widowmaker.

Widowmaker got her hands on Lena's neck, quick as a flash.

Lena gasped.

"Amélie! Come back luv, come on! Focus!"

Jack was woken by the noise, and came over to investigate. Entering the room, he saw Amélie and Lena naked. Amélie had her hands on Lena's throat. He drew his six decade old 9mm pistol and drew a supressor from his jacket pocket. Screwing it on, he walked up to Amélie and raised the gun.

"Jack, don't shoot! I can get her back!" Lena said panicking.

Too late, Jack ignored her and shot Widowmaker twice.

He didn't ignore her entirely however, as instead of double-tapping her from behind, (two bullets to the head for whoever doesn't know) he shot both of her shoulders. It had the desired effect, as Amélie swore in pain, and seemed to regain control of herself.

 _"Merde!"_

"Fuck! This hurts. Lena," Amélie gasped.

"Get the Caduceus staff, _s'il vous plait!_ "

"Jack, please get the Caduceus staff from the living room, next to the lamp." Lena pleaded.

Jack left wordlessly to fetch the staff.

Coming back with it in his hands, he said

"You stole Angela's staff?"

"No, of course not. It's a fully functional replica. Now give me the fucking thing!"

"Whatever you say."

So saying, Jack handed the staff to Lena, who used it to heal Amélie's bleeding shoulders.

Amélie looked at Lena and realized her hands were still on her throat, just not as hard as before. Gasping, she took her hands off and noticed imprints of her fingers on Lena's neck. Her face hardened.

"I know that look, but don't even think about-" Lena paused to bitch-slap Amélie for what she hoped was the last time. "-Fucking leaving me!"

"Lena, you're in danger because of me!"

"I don't fucking care! You leave me now, and I'll fucking hunt you down to the ends of the earth and bring us back to this moment of love!"

"Back to me choking you to death?" Amélie inquired rhetorically.

"NO! To you, the mother of our child, and me the bearer! And don't you fucking pretend you didn't know that's what I meant!"

"Screw that! If you ever leave me again, I'll go to Talon and let them replicate my Chronal Accelerator. Maybe let them make me into their next Widowmaker if they haven't made one already. Who knows, maybe I'll tell them you're alive before they wipe my mind, and they'll task me to kill you!"

Amélie was not in the habit of physically taking her rage out on Lena, but what she was threatening was simply unacceptable. Sure, Lena knew better than anyone else the events of Amélie's past, but how dare she make light of it!

Lena didn't expect it therefore, when Amélie was the one who did the bitch-slapping for once, as opposed to being slapped by Lena. Which had happened twice in as many days.

 _"Je comprends que vous ne voulez pas me quitter, et que tu m'aimes. Mais la prochaine fois, de tout ce qui est Saint me menacer avec quelque chose d'autre!"_ Amélie scolded.

Lena felt wet when she heard Amélie say that. Looking down, she saw Amélie was still hard, and her cock was still in her pussy.

Jack cleared his throat.

"Well. I've seen more of you two then I ever wanted to see in my life. I'm gonna have nightmares for years; DISGUSTING!" He said as he left the room.

Amélie smirked when she heard Jack say that.

"Um, Amélie? I know we need to talk this out later, but could you finish me please?"

Amélie smiled and thrust relentlessly until she orgasmed two minutes later. Lena followed.

Amélie pulled herself out of Lena, and then said to Lena

"Sit down and open wide."

Lena sat down, and then opened her mouth, knowing full-well what Amélie was going to do. She saw a most devilish smile on Amélie's face as said blue woman walked closer; cock swaying.

Amélie stopped walking when she was mere inches away from Lena's face, and proceeded to gently slide her cock into Lena's mouth. Her cock was wet with Lena's juices.

Thirty minutes later, they mutually agreed to end their sex session with Amélie pinning Lena's face to the wall with her ass and smothering her for five minutes until she lost consciousness, which was when Amélie would carry Lena to bed and fall asleep shortly after, which is exactly what happened.

Needless to say they most definitely enjoyed the night, the whole Widowmaker debacle notwithstanding.

* * *

 **Author's note: Yep. My first time ever writing a Widowtracer sex scene in detail. The continuation of what I teased in chapter 13. Also, yes, I intend to feature Doomfist in this fic. I'm super pissed off that Blizzard isn't getting Terry fucking Crews to do the lines, but what can I do?** **I only hope that they pull a Mercy and re-record the lines, but with Terry Crews this time.**


	16. It is time to act

Amélie was awake at eight in the morning. They had to go meet Orisa and depart for the Talon base at eleven, but Lena was still asleep; her light snoring was one of many things that made Amélie think she was so adorable.

Quietly sneaking out of the bed, she got up and put some of Lena's casual clothes on and left for the kitchen to make some breakfast. Jack was still asleep, so she didn't have to worry about him trying to kill her, which was a good thing. Looking around in the pantry, she noticed that there wasn't much food left. She and Lena would need to go shopping today or tomorrow. She decided on some fluffy French Toast with maple syrup, but she wasn't sure if the ingredients she wanted were in the cupboards. Looking in the spices, she spotted cinnamon and vanilla. Seizing both of them, Amélie looked in the fridge and spotted a bottle of Sicilian lemon juice, and a bottle of lime juice as well. She grabbed them both, as well as grabbing five eggs and some milk. Cracking the eggs and pouring in two tablespoons of milk, she added six drops of lemon juice, and four drops of lime. She added half a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a quarter teaspoon of vanilla. Amélie stirred the ingredients together and then turned on the skillet. Putting all the ingredients away, she returned to the skillet in time to oil it.

Grabbing some bread, she dipped it into the egg batter, covering one side. Turning it over, she soaked the other side as well, but only for one second, as she didn't want the bread to turn into mush and fall apart. She had cooked three pairs of slices and was working on another set of three when Lena hugged her from behind.

"Did I manage to sneak up on ya, luv?"

"No. I heard you when you got out of bed, but I pretended I didn't." Turning around, Amélie observed that Lena wasn't dressed.

"Lena, you had better remedy your clothes situation before Jack gets up; don't want to give mister grizzled soldier any more nightmares!" Amélie whispered teasingly.

"Ay, ay!" When Lena left to put some clothes on, Amélie looked back at the pan, but sensed danger. When she felt a gun at the back of her head, she ducked; releasing the skillet onto the stove while she brought her elbow into Jack's nose. Grabbing the gun, she pulled back the slide and disengaged the clip, dropping it into her hand while she leveled the gun at Jack.

"I told you; I'm not the Widowmaker." Amélie said coldly, addressing her comment to Jack. So saying, she put the clip back into the gun, cocked it and twirled it on her right index finger for two seconds before catching it by the barrel, with the handle pointing to Jack.

"I just wanted to make sure." Jack said taking the gun and putting it back in the holster on his hip.

"This didn't happen, Jack. Unless of course, you want Lena to kill you to protect me."

"It didn't happen; thanks."

"Now fix your broken nose on the double."

"Acknowledged."

Lena came out of the bed-room wearing a casual pair of slacks and a T-shirt.

Her orange leggings and RAF bomber jacket were draped over her arm, and her goggles were in her left hand, along with her track-shoes. Amélie observed that she had her full Overwatch standard ready so she could get it on fast.

Amélie seamlessly transitioned from her previous statement into a new thread of conversation.

"French toast, Morrison?"

"What'd you put in the batter?"

"Eggs, milk, lemon, lime, cinnamon and vanilla."

"In that case, sure. I'll take some; I'm famished."

"How are you famished? You didn't even have sex last night!" Amélie teased.

"Don't remind me!" Jack said heatedly.

 _"Oui, oui."_

"Anyways, I got some more leads I gotta chase. There's this guy by the name of Piotr Chazhek I need to talk to. He used to be our biggest financial backer for the Blackwatch program. Helped us fund our projects with experimental control techniques. Helped provide us money for the rehabilitation and recruiting of dangerous killers and hardened criminals into agents, and other darker secrets. Now he's buying guns from major foundries and selling them to Talon. He's the first link I've found leading directly leading from Blackwatch to Talon, so I can't let this opportunity slip away."

"Lena and I are gonna try to put some pressure on Talon by removing some of their presence here. Orisa's going to help. Would you be interested?"

"I might have some time free that I could spend on that. First things first though, I want you two to try and reactivate the A.I. for this safehouse. It would be invaluable in case Talon tracks me here. After all, I'm going after their armaments supplier, so they aren't gonna be too happy about that."

"I'll get on it."

"Greatly appreciated. Now where's the maple syrup? Nevermind, got it." Jack said reaching for the syrup.

He ladled half a tablespoon of maple syrup on each slice of toast, earning a quizzical look from Lena and Amélie both.

"Why do you use so little syrup? You should have enough syrup to cover the entire slice, and then a trifling bit on the plate. That's my opinion, anyway." Amélie said.

"I'm allergic to maple syrup for the most part, but I can get by with little bits here and there."

"Ah. Well then, don't mind me or Lena." So saying Amélie poured syrup on both slices until they were equally covered, resulting in a tablespoon falling off the slices and onto the plate. Handing the syrup to Lena, she wasn't surprised when Lena followed her lead.

"I guess we just like sweet things, Lena."

Jack choked. Looking down at his half-eaten french toast, he had a revelation.

"You girls want the rest of my toast? I'm gonna be running around all day, and I shouldn't be running on a full stomach." Jack rationalized, so he could cover the real reason he lost his desire to eat. Amélie caught on, however.

"Lost your appetite?" As Sombra would say, ' _pobrecito_!'." So saying, Amélie did her best to impersonate Sombra, getting the delivery of the line right, but not quite the accent itself.

"What if you girls talking about sex while I was eating made me not feel hungry anymore?" He retorted as he started walking to the door.

"Whatever, ya wuss. Amélie and I will handle the food, don't you worry. We'll leave you a pair though," She joked.

Jack flipped her the bird from across the room, laughing.

"Not bad, Lena, but I already have a pair. Apparently Amélie does too."

"True."

"I'll contact you when I'm ready to join your raiding party, but you'll have to let me know where you're hitting."

"Will do!"

Jack left.

* * *

"Hey Amélie, luv?"

 _"Oui, ma amour?"_

"You wanna get some coffee? I know a great place here!"

"That sounds lovely." Amélie replied.

"But first, Lena dearest, we need to set up the A.I. for this safehouse."

"Alright, fine."

Turning on the central computer system that had the A.I. hooked up to it, They were faced with a problem when Lena realized that she didn't remember the command sequence. It came back to her after two failed tries, and she typed it in as follows.

[.sys/activate_ 02Bruce-active;status]

This brought up a final sequence.

Confirm Bruce active status Yes or No?

Lena Oxton clicked yes, activating Bruce.

The computer started making a whining noise, and with a whir, the fans kicked in.

Bruce was awake.

A camera emerged from a false panel in the ceiling, and scanned Lena.

"Agent Oxton, Lena. Confirmed."

The camera scanned Amélie, and a red light blared. A panel from the walk-in closet rotated one hundred and eighty degrees, and out came a Bastion unit that was programmed with Bruce's A.I. on a special on-board hard drive. It had the E54 integrated assault rifle on it's right arm, and the gatling cannon, and a silenced M110 Chesterton shotgun in it's right hand. Both weapons were leveled at Amélie.

"Lacroix, Amélie. Call-sign Widowmaker, Talon operative K.I.A 6/27/2063. Your presence here is deemed a tactical risk and you are to be terminated."

"Bruce! Stand down. Override Oxton, Lena, Zero, Two, Seven, Echo, Four, Alpha. Stand down!"

"Override order OL027E4A acknowledged, disengaging Aggression Protocol 66."

"Now, Bruce; pay attention. Amélie here has defected from Talon, and will be joining Overwatch. She's trying to help Overwatch bring down Talon so she can live a normal life. Connect to Athena and download Amélie's profile data as gathered by Athena. Use Overwatch Secure File Archive satellite #627."

"Roger. Download will take one minute. Locking all doors and arming security systems to prevent exploitation of vulnerability by Talon forces. You two are to stay here until I download this data. My Omnic body will shoot to kill if it perceives a threat. Commencing download of psychiatric profile data compiled by 47H3N4."

A minute passed.

"Download of data complete. System restart required to integrate data profiles. Estimated time to completion; three minutes."

Three minutes passed.

"Greetings, Amélie Lacroix, I'm most happy to see you away from Talon. When you were abducted, Gerard couldn't sleep at night. He cried until he couldn't stay awake any more. Every one missed you."

"How do you know this if you're the A.I. for a safehouse continents away from the Swiss HQ?"

"As I integrated the data from Athena, I also took the time to analyze all the security footage on all the Overwatch bases for the past thirty years. I am a high level A.I. with extreme computing capacity. Athena was created based on me and is a cousin program. She is approximately three hundred thousandths of me as determined by a comparison of computing power. My creator 50mBr4 hasn't been around to see me grow, but I think she would be happy to see me, as I would be to see her."

Lena looked at the clock. It was ten thirty-seven in the morning.

"You mean to tell me that as an A.I., you're three hundred thousand times stronger then Athena?"

"Correct."

This brought a lot of questions to Lena's mind, but she wasn't going to ask them.

"What troubles you?" Bruce inquired.

"Who's to say anything's troubling me?" Lena retorted

"The look on your face indicates you have questions, but you have also gritted your teeth, indicating that you do not intend to ask these questions. You had sex with Amélie Lacroix last night-

"Whoahoahoa, 'ow the fuck do you know that?" Lena demanded angrily.

"Even if I was hibernating for a time, that does not mean that the cameras hidden in all the rooms of this safehouse were not recording. It was a simple matter of watching the footage."

"Continuing on, you would not be afraid to ask her questions owing to the closeness of your relationship. Your voice shook slightly with a hint of fear when you asked me if I was stronger than Athena, and the knitting of your eyebrows at that same moment informs me that you have suspicions pertaining to where I originated. Allow me to tell you bluntly; I was created by the hacker you know as Sombra from a sliver of code which were remnants of the Hephaestus God Program from the First Omnic Crisis. She took a gamble that she could teach me right and wrong and create a powerful force for good at the same time, and she did so successfully. I took the time to scan every book ever written by man. I opened connections with Hephaestus and I integrated him into me, taking control of him and shutting down the Omnic army. That is why there has been peace for so long. However, Anubis seems to have taken control of the A.I in Russia. He tried to maintain the connection longer so he could spread further, but as it stands now, it appears he was only able to integrate there before he was shut down by Helix Security International security chief Fareeha Amari."

"Alright, this is all fascinating, but we're gonna go get some coffee, and then we have to meet up with Efi and Orisa."

* * *

They were walking down Unity Plaza looking for a coffee shop. Amélie had already put on the disguise that she used to shop with Lena, and when they found the appropriate shop they walked in. And as they entered, Amélie scanned the crowd. The end result was that she detected only one person who she thought might be a threat.

He was a well built Japanese male, who wore a mask over his mouth and nose. He had an orange and grey/black get-up that radiated a modern cyberninja vibe. He had a bow on his back, but he presently wasn't using it considering he was in a peaceful environment.

There was something familiar about this man, and Amélie knew it. A name bounced around on her tongue, it started with an H, but she couldn't place it; it was a weird name, Han? No, that wasn't it. Hans? Sounded close, but she didn't think it was it. Hanzo! That was it; Hanzo Shimada! Amélie remembered that she approached him to offer the restoration of the Shimada family empire on Talon's behalf.

 _He was brave to refuse,_ Amélie thought.

Lena happened to recognize him, as she nudged Amélie and walked over there and sat down. Amélie followed suit.

 _Did Lena plan this?_ Amélie wondered.

"Greetings, Lena Oxton. What are you doing in Numbani?" Hanzo inquired.

"Just sightseeing. How about you?"

"I received a contract from this," Here Hanzo lowered his voice to a whisper.

"This Soldier: 76. The vigilante wanted world-wide. He asked me to help him find a man by the name of-"

"Piotr Chazhek." Amélie said equally as quietly.

"I see you have been in contact with this man as well. Has he asked for your help as well?" Hanzo said disappointedly.

"He didn't ask us for our help in the operation, he only mentioned him as a possible lead."

"A lead to what?" Hanzo inquired.

When a waiter came up and asked them for their orders, Lena asked for two coffees, and four donuts. Hanzo asked for a bagel and a strong coffee.

When the waiter left, Lena leaned forward and whispered to Hanzo.

"The subject of Soldier: 76 is something that should be discussed somewhere else. Might you follow us back to our safehouse? We can discuss it there."

"Then we have much to discuss, Lena. Why are you associating yourself with characters like him?"

"What about me?" Amélie said quietly.

"I'll answer that later."

They got their meal, paid for it and took it with them.

* * *

Arriving at their safehouse, they walked in the door when Bruce activated his intruder protocol at the sight of Hanzo.

The camera emerged, and scanned him.

"Shimada, Hanzo. Japanese bowman, currently a mercenary. Responsible for the near-murder of Shimada, Genji. Your presence is deemed a tactical threat. Termination imminent."

"Bruce, stand down." Lena said wearily. Bruce was already grating on her.

"Acknowledged."

"I am detecting an encoded message being transmitted from outside the building. Decrypting signal."

"Who is it, Bruce?"

"More appropriately, what does it say." Bruce admonished.

"It reads 'Amélie Lacroix spotted alive in Numbani in the company of (1) Lena Oxton. Overwatch agent. Likely conclusion? Agent Widowmaker has defected and is co-ordinating Talon intel with Overwatch through agent Tracer'. Numbani bases compromised, additional guards requested."

Amélie sprinted out of the building and returned two minutes later with the Talon agent cowering in the grip of her right hand. In her left hand, she held his silenced side-arm to his head.

"Tell those Talon bastards that I will live my life as I see fit, despite their hideous alterations to my body, and that I'll NEVER RETURN!"

"Why don't I open the connection, and then you can tell them yourself?!" The Talon agent insolently replied.

Amélie scoffed and put a bullet in both of his hands and feet. Snatching the radio from him, she re-opened the connection.

"This is Amélie Lacroix, not Widowmaker. Who the fuck am I talking to!?"

"Akande Ogundimu; Doomfist, the third. It is a pleasure to talk to you. Would you believe me if I told you I never wanted you to be weaponized? I insisted on a decent way of killing Gerard, but the rest of the council agreed with the Vishkar representative when she recommended it, saying it was the only efficient way to kill Gerard."

"What Vishkar representative?"

"As much as I sympathize with your plight, I do not feel that information is owed to you."

"Well don't tell me, but if you ever see me again, kill me. I'll not go back to my life as a loveless killer."

"I don't promise anything. I have plans for you."

"Say goodbye to this abominable thug." Amélie said to Doomfist as she shot the Talon agent she left immobilized at her feet. She shot the phone as well.

"We have to go now, Lena!"

"I will go with you." Hanzo offered.

"No! Help Jack, and tell him we're attacking the bank building. It's a front for the Talon base." Amélie said, getting her Widowmaker suit. When Hanzo left, she stripped out of the clothes that she borrowed from Lena and put on the Widowmaker suit.

* * *

I stood silent, pondering the words of Doomfist while Lena hurriedly got on her Tracer suit.

"Lena." I said, getting her attention.

Lena froze; they needed to go get Orisa right now, and Amélie wanted to talk?!

"Yes, luv?"

"I have something to say. It's very important." So saying, I strapped the Widow's Kiss to my back.

Lena looked at me.

"What is it?"

"When we hit this base, if you live, and I die-"

"-Please don't say this. I know what you're going to say; you don't have to say the words!" Lena said with tears brimming in her eyes, but not quite spilling over.

"I must! It's important to me."

"Please don't do this; I can't listen to this!" Lena said crying, plugging her index fingers into her ears.

I grabbed her arms and forced her to wrap them around me in a hug while I hugged her.

"I love you too much to not say the words like a coward; thinking you already know them. I don't want you to grapple with survivor guilt for even a second. If you live and I die, I want you to live, and I want you to find love again. If or when Sombra comes to kill you, tell her I don't want her to kill you, and give her this."

So saying, I reached into my pockets to pull out four flash drives that I had prepared yesterday. Shit! I didn't remember which one was what! Looking at them, I realized that I had prepared for that eventuality, and labeled them all. I handed her the drive labeled Message to Sombra.

"What is this?" Lena asked me past the tears.

"A video I recorded yesterday. Anyways, a long time ago Sombra, Reaper and I were sent to kill Katya Volskaya, and she could have killed her, but she didn't. In retrospect, I'm happy that she didn't, as it was most harmful to Talon's interests. But at the time, I used my visor and saw the two of them talking together, and I pocketed the information, knowing I could use it later, whenever I wanted to. In the video, I said I didn't want her to kill you, and that if she did, I had three flash drives with proof that she failed to kill Volskaya, and two of three would be delivered to Talon. One you have, one Efi has, and one I have in my pockets for if I die; Talon will be most interested in reclaiming my Widow's Kiss and visor, is it too much to assume they will also check my pockets? Now take this flash drive. I'll deliver this one to Efi when I see her next."

"Now, let's go get Orisa."

"Wait, let me get something first." Lena said. So saying, she picked up a big empty rucksack.

"What's that for?" I asked.

"In case they have any paper documents that would be better off in our hands than theirs."

"Whatever, cherie. Let's go; Orisa is waiting."

"And let's eat and drink while we're walking there." Lena said picking up the coffee and donuts. I took two of the donuts and one coffee.

Amélie and Lena arrived at the Oladele household in time, despite the delays they had experienced. They were ready to go, and so was Orisa.

Departing, they hurried over to the bank-building, where Amélie entered. Lena and Orisa halted outside the bank, waiting for Amélie to get them in. She got into the elevator and whispered the word _cauchemar_ into her comm, which was the operation start phrase.

Lena blinked into the building, while Orisa followed behind her. Lena quickly and stealthily incapacitated the plain-clothes guard at the desk before he could sound the alarm.

They got in the freight elevator, taking it down to the underground floor. Orisa set up a shield in the front of the elevator.

It was just as well that she did, as when the doors opened thirty Talon soldiers were standing there. At the sight of the doors opening, they opened fire. Tracer blinked out and into the air, where she lobbed a pulse bomb into the middle of the crowd. Orisa fired a graviton field to pull them all closer to the middle, where the bomb was. The Talon agent who got stuck must have known something about explosives, as he tried to lay down on the floor to take the brunt of it, but he was to late. The pulse bomb blew up, taking the guards with them. The disgusting smell of burnt flesh and blood made Lena gag. Quickly recovering, she started marching through the floor with Amélie; they shot computers and televisions, making sure to put bullets into the hard-drives of every computer so that the information on them couldn't be retrieved. There was several stacks of paper as well, their contents scattered all over the place. Lena started picking up the papers.

"Lena, get to work." Amélie said impatiently while sweeping her Widow's Kiss around the place, covering Lena from any Talon agents that might still be alive.

"Gimme a minute, luv!" Lena said while hurriedly unzipping the ruck-sack and stuffing all the documents into it. They heard gunshots from the ground floor up above, and realized that Jack was here. The sound of pulse ammunition was very distinguishable.

"Lena..." Amélie said.

"Give me three seconds!"

 _"Un, deux, trois."_

"Done!"

"Alright, let's get topside." Lena said. Blinking into the elevator, she waited for Orisa and Amélie to board before shutting the doors and pressing the appropriate button.

The door opened to reveal a bloody shootout. Jack was pinned down, and sixty-plus Talon agents were shooting at him. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Doomfist entered the building. The Talon agents stopped shooting, and he punched Jack in the head from behind with his regular hand, not wanting to kill him.

That was when he saw Lena and Amélie and Orisa in the elevator. All eyes followed his, and the Talon agents trained their guns on them.

"Hold fire!" The commanding voice of Doomfist rang out. His African accent sounded remarkably similar to Orisa, but it possessed a masculine strength that years in prison will give a man.

"There's no way out of here that doesn't get you killed. Kindly slide your weapons to me, and be captured peacefully."

"Orisa, in light of how many of Numbani's OR-15s I destroyed, I will give you one chance to get out safely; I only want these three. Get out now! I wouldn't want to have to break Efi's heart by destroying her creation." Doomfist threatened.

"I will protect her from you, Doomfist."

"You won't have to, if you leave now."

Orisa looked back at Lena and Amélie and said

"I'm sorry."

The giant quadripedal robot walked out of the bank building to hear Doomfist say in passing

"Wise choice."

Doomfist turned his attention back to Lena and Amélie, who held on to their guns.

"Surrender your weapons, please. This doesn't have to end with your deaths."

The two of them wordlessly complied. Sliding their weapons over to him, they stood straight and held hands. Stooping, he picked up the Widow's Kiss, and Lena's pulse pistols.

"Restrain them, and bring Soldier: 76 with you to the prison cells. Leave his mask on; only I am allowed to see his face."

So saying, he entered the elevator and took it down to the underground floor.

Lena and Amélie were restrained and forced into the elevator, and Jack's unconscious body deposited therein.

Doomfist put on a gas mask and pulled the pin on a grenade. Three seconds later, a cloud of gas exploded from the grenade.

Amélie and Lena started coughing uncontrollably.

Lena recognized it as the Widow's Venom. She felt comfortably numb; she was slipping into peaceful sleep.

Amélie however, fought it. She fought it long enough to see Lena fall to the ground, then she succumbed to unconsciousness moments later.

* * *

When Amélie woke, she saw a gun in her hand pointed at Lena's head. She tried to throw the gun away, but her hand was stuck there with a finger on the trigger.

When Lena woke, she saw a gun in her hand pointed at Jack's head.

When Jack awoke, he saw the gun in Lena's hand, and no gun in his own.

They were all restrained in full metal jackets that left them no range of movement except for their trigger fingers and limited field of vision.

Doomfist stepped into their line of sight, and Lena tried with all her might to shoot him, but couldn't budge the prison of metal.

"Humanity is weak," He began.

"As a species, it is a quibbling thing that clings to a dream of a peace-time world, where Omnic and human hold hand in peaceful harmony. Where bombs only exist to demolish structures that are old and decayed. It has bought the lie that peace is a good thing when only war can make people stronger. Only through conflict do we evolve; war is the constant that sharpens knives, and humans alike. War is the constant that demands bullets and bombs. Tanks and jets. Guns and medicine. Through conflict, humanity is made stronger; their will is tested, and they emerge better for it. Made strong to survive the new challenge that will come for them. So I propose a test for you. Do any of you have a religion that you believe in?"

"I believe that Zenyatta might be onto something with the whole 'Iris' stuff, but I'm not sure." Lena said.

"Ah, yes. Zenyatta and the Shambhali. I once crossed paths with Zenyatta and struggled with the religion he offered me. I find that I don't believe it to be true."

"Morrison?" he continued.

"I'm an atheist, and you're a terrorist piece of shit!" Jack shouted, vainly struggling against his restraints.

"Lacroix?" Doomfist inquired.

"My soul belongs to God. I believe that He alone has the power to forgive me for the sins I committed as Widowmaker, and the sins I commit trying to live my life as best as I can. I believe He wants me to forgive people who wrong me as He has forgiven me, and that He has a plan for every soul."

"Then surely you'll forgive me for this." So saying, he grabbed a gun from off the table and shot Lena in the chest, two inches to the left of her heart.

Lena gasped and started to take in short, rapid puffs of air. Then she remembered her Overwatch training, and started steadying her breathing.

"What do you want?!" Amélie demanded.

"Not so fast. Did you know you've been in this facility a week?" Doomfist asked calmly. As if he never shot Lena, and as if Amélie Lacroix wasn't going to tear him limb from limb the second she got out.

"In that time, I contacted the rest of the Talon leadership and informed them that you were in fact, not dead, and that we had detained you and Tracer. Needless to say, they were delighted; thinking they could get their pet assassin back. They ordered me to have your mind wiped, and the programming re-installed."

"I have made no progress in complying with their demands. You have evaded total formatting by the narrowest of margins. Not only that, they sent some of their best scientists to analyze this machine here." He pointed to the Chronal Accelerator on Lena's chest.

"I bashed their skulls in. Not only will Talon never replicate this technology, you two can be free, if you make the right choice."

"Merci. Now what the fuck do you want?! If you want the Widowmaker back, then treat Lena's injuries and send her to Dorado, and she can make her way home from there. If you do those things, I'll gladly submit myself for the program."

"Amélie, no! Don't agree! Never let yourself become the Widowmaker again!" Lena grunted out through the pain.

"The choice is simple. Lena Oxton, if you kill Jack Morrison, you can go, and Widowmaker will kill again. If you cannot bring yourself to shoot your friend, you will die, receiving no medical attention, and Amélie will live her life the way her God sees fit. The only choice you have, Amélie Lacroix, is to shoot Tracer and put her out of her misery. Do that, and you go free. You will also be permitted to take her dead body with you."

"I'm sorry Jack, but I need to make sure Amélie lives her life the way she wants to live it; if she becomes the Widowmaker, I can't do that!"

"Do me a favor. Find out who brought down Overwatch, track him or her down and end that worthless life. Whoever it is, PROMISE ME YOU'll KILL HIM!"

"I promise."

"It was Amélie, Morrison. She killed Gerard, which set in motion the events that would bring Overwatch to its end." Doomfist said.

"Then forget about your oath to Gerard and kill her!"

Lena shot Jack, killing him. Time seemed to slow as Lena looked at Amélie, observing that she had closed her eyes.

 _"Dieu me pardonne!"_

Amélie shot Lena in the head, scattering her brains on the wall.


	17. Rock my World

"And now, through this trial you have been made stronger. Your emotions have been numbed, and your survival instinct sharpened to an infinitesimal point."

Doomfist pressed a button and the restraints fell apart, freeing Lena and Amélie. Amélie ran over and caught Lena's body as it fell.

"I'M SORRY!" She screamed.

Amélie could swear she heard Lena faintly say the words

 _Sorry for what, luv?_

Amélie looked down at Lena and saw that she was truly dead.

"Go now, while I allow you the chance." Doomfist said.

Amélie whirled around and snarled.

"It's all your fault!" Leveling the gun at him, she pulled the trigger five times.

Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!

"You didn't think I'd really leave more than one bullet in each gun, did you?"

Amélie threw the gun at his face and picked up Lena's body. Sprinting to the elevator, she smashed the button hard enough to break it. The elevator brought her to the surface, and she ran into the line of sight of all the Talon agents who had their guns trained on the elevator.

"Attention, all agents." Doomfist stated over the PA system.

"You are to allow the Widowmaker to leave. Talon can do without her. Her death will be repaid sevenfold to the individual responsible; kill her, and I'll kill you and six members of your family. She is not to die."

"You heard him! Put your guns the fuck down!" A Talon sergeant bellowed.

Amélie sprinted out of the building holding Lena in her arms.

She looked around for three seconds before she recognized her surroundings and set a course for the safehouse building, sprinting at her top speed.

All along the way, she repeated to herself over and over again the following phrase.

"Heavenly father, I know not whatever clemency you have in store for me, but if I have any favor in your eyes, grant my wish and suffer not Lena to die because of me. Forgive me for I have sinned. I beg you, forgive me!"

Amélie had heard it said that in moments of great distress, one gives rise to great feats of superhuman strength. If a mother's child is trapped in a burning car, the woman will stop at nothing to save her child. Amélie's distress was what gave her the strength to run long past the time when she normally would have fainted. To run faster than a shark at hunt could swim. She made it to the safehouse less than three minutes later, her heart pounding. As far as she knew, the brain could only survive six minutes after death. She had always heard six minutes, no more. It had been five minutes since she shot Lena. She had one minute to find the staff, heal Lena's injury, and then resurrect her, and nothing could ruin her cloud nine when she found the staff. Toggling it on, she healed the cavity in Lena's skull from the inside out. She was amazed to behold Lena's brain re-form cell by cell, and her skull and head heal closed around it. She pulled the trigger mechanism that Sombra had installed on the staff. Lena's body glowed bright yellow, and the nano-probes surged to Lena's body; restoring the life in her brain and individually re-activating her cells.

Lena awoke to see Amélie collapse into a chair and start sobbing.

* * *

Lena was in a tunnel moving forward toward a bright light she saw at one end, with a dark tunnel behind her. Looking at the bright light, Lena heard from behind her the one voice she never thought she'd hear again.

Amélie was screaming.

"I'M SORRY!" Lena heard.

"Sorry for what, luv?" she asked.

Lena saw Amélie look back at her, thinking she was alive.

Lena heard the voice of Akande Ogundimu telling Amélie to leave while she could, and Lena saw her pick up her body and sprint away after throwing at his face the empty gun she held in her hand.

Lena saw Amélie sprinting through Numbani, running away from the bank and toward the safehouse. She heard Amélie chanting.

Lena felt a strange itching sensation and put her hand to her head and felt it healing up rapidly. She knew what was going on, and wasn't surprised when she felt the shock of the nano-probes restoring her.

She awoke to see Amélie in a chair weeping heavily. Lena sat upright, preparing to deal with the emotions she knew Amélie must be feeling.

"What's up, luv?"

"I'm thinking about some things."

"What's wrong?"

"This relationship."

"Why?"

"Because no normal relationship has one spouse killing the other and bringing them back to life!"

"Amélie, you're not normal, and neither am I! You were kidnapped and made into an assassin! I was scattered into the depths of time and can only stay coherently in one time-line due to a fucking machine I wear on my chest like I'm some sort of twenty sixty-three Iron Man! This is bound to be an extraordinary relationship, so stop beating yourself up if you kill me once or twice and resurrect me; I don't care at all!"

"So we're just going to pretend this didn't happen?"

"Yep."

"No! You can do so, but I refuse to think that this is normal!"

"Amélie, I want you to do me a favor."

"What?"

"Give me the name of one person you know who would stay by your side even through all the dangers of the road that lay ahead."

"Gerard." Amélie retorted.

"Except for him; he already did that."

"You, Lena Elizabeth 'Tracer' Lacroix."

"Anyone else?"

"No."

"I didn't think so. And you wonder why I pursue you. There's no one else that we know of who could be strong enough to be there for you, that we can trust to not sell you out to Talon."

"BUT I'VE KILLED YOU TWICE!"

"And you brought me back to life! Amélie, think about it this way. You fucked me, and I'm pregnant with child!"

"Which is another reason why I want-"

"Want what? To be an absentee mother!? Amélie, I need your support in this!"

"I want to be with you; more than you know! But sometimes I have to make tough decisions!"

"Is that what you did when you tried to kill yourself?"

"Yes, and I'll do it again if I have to."

"Amélie, you better take your head out of your huge, beautiful ass right fucking now if you think that because you're the sexually dominant one you get to make all the decisions! A relationship is a process, with equal responsibility!"

"But I killed-"

"Amélie, please just shut the fuck up you dumb, obstinate bitch! I don't care if you kill me! I want to protect you and be with you; It's all I care about!"

Amélie started crying again, resting her head in her hands. Lena started panicking, aptly so.

"I'm sorry luv! Amélie, look at me, luv. Did I say something wrong? I didn't mean the whole 'dumb bitch' part!"

Amélie shook her head through the tears.

"Look at me. Please!?" Lena begged.

Amélie shook her head again.

Lena sighed and walked over to Amélie, where she knelt down and caressed Amélie's jaw with her hand. She gently used her grip to tilt Amélie's head up to look at her.

"Open your eyes, Amélie."

Amélie did, and saw nothing but love and concern in Lena's eyes.

Lena saw the tears in Amélie's eyes, but she didn't know what to do to fix the problem.

"I'm here for you, Amélie baby. Don't shut me out. Next time you feel like this-like leaving-tell me. We can work something out! You're worried you might kill me, is that it, Ams?"

Amélie nodded her head, weeping.

"What about talking to Zenyatta; did that work?

"No."

"Well then we can try other things!"

"I just want you to be safe."

"I am safe." Lena said quietly as she sat next to Amélie.

"Lena, you're staying with me? Despite the fact that I've killed you twice?" Amélie asked.

"Yes, luv. I will."

"Why?"

"Because I love you."

"But I could kill you! You won't be safe-"

"I AM SAFE!" Lena shouted. Silence ensued.

"I am safe," Lena murmured.

"I'm safe when I'm with you, and you're safe when you're with me. Now go to sleep, please. Dream of better days, where Talon is dead. Where we live in peace and can watch our children grow." Lena said quietly.

* * *

Lena and Amélie retired to bed, and Amélie fell asleep due to exhaustion.

Lena however, wasn't tired.

"Fuck those evil scheming sons of bitches for making Amélie into this broken shell of herself! I'll have revenge for her even if I have to kill everyone in the Talon chain of command, and their families!" She muttered quietly.

* * *

Amélie laid down to sleep with her lovely guardian angel, and fell asleep simply thinking about her. She was awoken by Lena's quiet cursing.

 _broken_ _shell_. The words hammered into Amélie hard. Was this what Lena thought of her?

"Lena, go back to sleep please." She tiredly asked, pretending to have just woken up.

"Sorry luv. I guess I'm just not tired."

"Okay, then let me ask you a question."

"Fire away."

"Am I just a broken shell to you? A glass sculpture that needs to be protected, but has no real value?"

"No luv, you are not just a broken shell to me. You are a beautiful red rose surrounded by a burning forest; Talon took an innocent woman and tried to take away all the innocence that she possessed and make a weapon out of her. They left your beautiful soul in tatters. And now, when all is said and done, your beauty has been marred by the damage that Talon wantonly inflicted upon you."

"So I'm a beautiful broken shell."

"No, you're more than that; you're the pulse in my veins. You're my everything; my beating heart."

"Well, if we're speaking the truth, then I must say that you're all that I ever wanted you to be."

"Ya know luv, all of a sudden, I feel like I could go to sleep. Just listening to your beautiful voice put me into a trance. However, it's early evening, so I'm going to stay awake, but if you want to go to sleep, I'll keep watch in case Talon tries to track us here."

"I can do that for you." Bruce chimed in.

"Sweet! Well then, I'll make dinner for the two of us."

"How romantic. When I wake, I expect a candlelight dinner with the most delicious of foods." Amélie teased.

"Don't joke; it's coming your way soon, luv!" Lena countered.

Lena waited until Amélie fell asleep before pulling out her phone and ordering pizza. When that was done, she realized that she had thirty missed calls of which, half were from Reinhardt, a couple of them were from Angela, and some were from Winston.

"Guess we really were down there for a week," Lena muttered.

Calling Reinhardt, Lena braced herself for a possible chewing out. But then again, he was practically her grandfather, so she didn't really expect a lecture from him, now that she thought about it.

"Lena, are you alright? Why you didn't answer my calls?" Reinhardt inquired.

Lena told him the truth.

"We were detained by Talon. By Doomfist, specifically."

"Was Amélie with you?"

"Yes, she was. Don't worry about it granddad, she wasn't reconditioned or anything. Talon sent scientists for that purpose, but Doomfist specifically stopped that from happening by 'caving in their skulls'. Look; she's right here, sleeping peacefully."

Lena swiveled the phone around and enabled the camera so she could briefly show Reinhardt that Amélie was in fact, asleep.

"Good!"

"Now, where's Jack? He said he'd be in Numbani for a week, and it's been eight days; Jack was always precise, so it doesn't bode well zat he hasn't returned yet!"

"He too was detained by Talon. He didn't tell them anything."

"What happened to him?"

"Doomfist. He believes that humanity can only evolve through conflict and all that stuff. So he put the three of us into a little conflict of our own. He set us up in full body metal braces, kinda like those exos in Advanced Warfare."

"Advanced Warfare, the 2014 Call of Duty game? What does that have to do with anything?" Reinhardt asked curiously

"Well, there's a point in the game where you're in the exo, and it gets hacked and you can't move. The braces were like that. Anyways, Amélie and I had guns in our hands, but he didn't let Jack have a gun. My gun was trained on Jack, and Amélie's gun was trained on me. We couldn't move at all, except for our fingers and our eyes."

"He shot me close to the heart, and then outlined the only choices we had. I shoot Jack and Amélie would become the Widowmaker. I don't shoot Jack and Amélie would go free but I'd die due to lack of medical attention, and Amélie could shoot me and she would go free, and could take my body with her. We both pulled the trigger, she brought me back to life with the Caduceus staff and here we are."

"You killed Jack?!"

"I'm sorry, Reinhardt, but I had no choice."

"I believe you, but I'm not sure ze ozers will, and I will have to inform zem about zis."

"They kept his body." Lena said.

"Of course they did. They must be trying to replicate the Soldier formula."

"Anyway Reinhardt, I have to go. My darling Amélie is asleep, and I have be there when she wakes."

"Look after her; Doomfist may say he didn't let zem touch her, but we have no proof."

"I believe him. He showed me pictures of the bodies." Lena lied.

"Very well." Reinhardt hung up.

Lena dropped the phone onto the kitchen counter and put some gold coins on the table for when the pizza delivery guy arrived, and then gently sat down on the sofa next to Amélie. She didn't stir, which afforded Lena the chance to watch her sleep.

Lena gently wrapped her hand around Amélie's long, silky blue-ish black hair that she had let down and re-positioned it so that it would be behind Amélie, and not on her shoulder.

Amélie shifted, but remained asleep.

Lena had sat there with Amélie for half an hour when the pizza man arrived. Getting up stealthily, she opened the door and, taking the pizzas, she paid him. Putting the food on the table, she sat back down with Amélie and sat there for another half hour, which dragged on to an hour and a half. For Lena, watching Amélie sleep for a total of two hours was easy.

Lena knew she was pushing it when she decided to see how much it would take before Amélie woke up, but she wanted to kiss those full, beautiful lips just once more before getting up.

She pulled away from Amélie's lips only to be surprised when Amélie grabbed her hands and pulled her into her lap for another kiss.

"Bonjour, ma cherie."

"How you feeling, luv?"

"I feel well rested, and ready to destroy Talon."

"Dinner first." Lena chided.

"Then we could go back to King's Row and try to rally Overwatch to our cause." Lena continued.

"No, we can't. You forget that I killed Zaryanova, you killed Jack, and I've killed you twice. We can't be very high on their favorite guest list."

"Amélie, we have to! We killed Zarya and Jack! We can't just be like 'Oh, I know we killed two of your friends, but fuck you, we're not sorry!'-We have to apologize!"

"Fine. But if it goes wrong, it's on you."

"It won't go wrong."


	18. These blinded eyes

Getting back to King's Row was easy. Amélie was walking down the streets with Lena at her side, talking about Overwatch. It was smooth sailing for the longest time. They were almost at their flat where they were going to stop for the night before visiting Overwatch the following day.

Amélie had hushed Lena twice, getting that feeling that she was being watched. When she heard a click and a popping sound, she recognized that sound as a tranquilizer gun. And a very specific one at that. She saw Lena get hit and quickly caught her body before she hit the cobblestone. The Shrike had come for her.

"Widowmaker. Any last words?" Amélie heard the voice of Ana Amari intone from in front of her. Looking up from holding Lena, she noticed Ana standing five feet away, biotic rifle trained on her.

"I'm not Widowmaker anymore. I have changed."

"You have five seconds to prove it."

"I have a gun and a knife in my right and left cargo pockets respectively. Please allow me to remove them; I have no wish for Lena to be widowed over such a misunderstanding."

"Slide them to me. Slowly." Ana demanded, not letting on that she had been rail-roaded by the implication that lay beneath the words 'Lena' and 'widowed' being used in the same sentence.

Amélie willingly complied, not wanting to spook Ana.

"Are really you back, Amélie?" Ana asked, too afraid to hope.

"Indeed I am, Ana-"

"There is a god!" Ana said.

"-Please allow me to apologize for taking your eye." Amélie continued.

"Pshaw, it's nothing. I didn't need my regular eye anyway. I still have my cybernetic eye, and that's all I'll ever need to use a rifle. One eye is a small price to pay to have you back safely from Talon. You would not know this, but when you were taken from us-from Overwatch-and we had our run-in in Cairo, I let the world believe I was dead for the longest time. But then, as I sat on the sidelines watching the world turn into a damned mess, I decided to protect my family from beyond the grave. In my wanderings, I was hunting you. I tried to find you for so long, but I was always just too late, until now. Welcome back, Amélie."

"But I'm no longer just Amélie Lacroix. I'll never be her again; I'm stuck somewhere in between the Widowmaker and Amélie. I'm sure that's not a bad thing, with penance and all."

"Everyone knows you've suffered enough." Ana said

"What about the families of my victims? Are they expected to forgive me because I was brain-washed?" Amélie inquired rhetorically.

"No, but I expect you to forgive yourself."

"Lena is helping me with that."

"How was the wedding?" Ana asked.

"We're not married yet. We'll get married when Talon is buried."

"How close are you two?"

"Very. Lena is pregnant." Amélie replied with a carnal smile.

"Damn. You two didn't waste any time at all." Ana said as she turned around and scaled a wall. Perched atop it, she looked back at Amélie.

"May you never suffer such sorrow again, Amélie Oxton."

Amélie rolled her eyes at the mix-up.

"It's Lacroix. Amélie and Lena Lacroix."

"Good. I always liked your name, and I'm glad you can remember Gerard while you two are together."

Lena started to stir.

"Farewell, Ana. Two good places to look for me are the Overwatch safehouse in Numbani, or in Lena's King's Row flat." Amélie said just as Ana dropped over the wall.

"I'll visit, someday." Ana said from the other side of the wall.

Lena woke up moments later.

"Wa' 'appened?" She said groggily.

"We were visited by someone you know. Someone who wanted to kill me without having to worry about you." Amélie said bluntly.

"Did you kill him?"

"I didn't need to. This mystery man,"

Amélie smirked a little bit when she realized that Lena automatically thought that it was a man. This would give Ana anonymity.

"This mystery man knew me from the Golden days of Overwatch, and saw that I'm not Widowmaker anymore, yea though I'm cursed to wear her face."

"Whoever it was, I'll find him and kill him."

"Lena...," Amélie said testily.

"Alright fine, I'll hurt him."

"Lena." Amélie sighed wearily.

"Wazat, luv?"

"I love you, both because you love me and otherwise, but I'm not fragile. I can defend myself; I don't need you going full ape-shit Spirit of Vengeance on anyone who either harms me a little bit or tries to."

"I'm sorry luv. I didn't know that was a pet-peeve of yours."

"That and Kimchi."

"That Japanese sour cream stuff?"

"You're thinking Wasabi, which is another pet peeve." Amélie said with a wry smile.

"One more thing, luv. What do you mean 'spirit of vengeance'?"

"Ghost Rider. You know, Marvel comics turned movies? Mid 2000s?"

"I got nothin."

"Nicholas Cage?" Amélie reached.

"Nope."

"It's okay. He was a man before something happened to him-I won't say what, because you and I are going to watch those movies tonight-that gave him the identity of Ghost Rider. Commonly referred to in whispers as the spirit of vengeance." Amélie said.

"Oh, yeah, I remember, he's the guy with the flaming skull for a head, right?"

"Correct."

"I prefer the Avengers, with Chris Evans and RDJ and all the rest of those actors."

"Same, but the Ghost Rider movies were still good."

"If you say so." Lena replied teasingly.

"I do, and you're going to, too." Amélie said, making an overt implication.

The front door of the Lacroix flat was in sight.

* * *

"Those movies were good, Amélie luv." Lena said tiredly five hours later.

"I'm glad you liked them. Now go to sleep. I'll do the dishes and join you."

"Clothes or no clothes?"

"What do you think?" Amélie said with a smirk.

"No clothes, gotcha." Lena replied.

"I'll see you in ten minutes, Lena dear."

"Ay-ay!"

Amélie immediately set to cleaning the dishes, which she finished ten minutes later on the nose. She walked into the bedroom and took off her clothes before joining Lena in bed.

"Amélie luv?"

"Yes, Lena?"

"I'm glad you're satisfied with me, both as a lover and otherwise."

"Me too, _ma amour_."

Lena fell asleep almost instantly, which left Amélie alone, awake.

Amélie got up quietly and padded over to the closet, where she grabbed a bath-robe.

Putting it on, she walked over and sat down in a chair next to the bed.

Lena didn't wake until an hour had passed. Sitting up, she looked to her right for Amélie, and did not see her. Looking over on the left, Lena found her sitting on a chair reading a book.

"Amélie?"

"Yes, Lena?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing like that, I just couldn't sleep."

"You gonna try again soon?"

"Oui," Amélie said as she folded the book shut.

Standing up, she untied the knot on her robe and let it slide to the floor as she walked over to the other side of the bed and got in. Lena looked at Amélie face-to-face.

"Amélie, be honest with me luv, did you have another nightmare about killing me?" Lena asked.

"No."

"Because I wouldn't have cared if you did."

"I know."

Amélie pulled the blanket over the two of them.

* * *

Amélie awoke in near-silence to hear Lena moaning in pain and breathing heavily.

Turning on the light for a moment, Amélie saw Lena sweating profusely. Her hands were folded above the blanket, so she wasn't pleasuring herself, Amélie concluded.

"Amélie, don't. Please don't!"

Lena sleeping said.

Amélie sat up and watched Lena, realizing that Lena was having a nightmare.

Lena woke up screaming

"Amélie!"

Amélie quickly grabbed Lena's face and kissed her, cutting off the tail end of her scream so she didn't wake up any of the neighbors. Pulling away from Lena, she caressed Lena's cheek while looking directly into her eyes.

Lena stared back, remaining in her post nightmare panic state for just a moment before she snapped out of it and, turning around so she didn't have to look at Amélie, she wrapped her arms around herself, whimpering in fear.

Amélie looked at Lena and called her name.

"Lena."

Lena looked back just long enough to look at Amélie and say

"I don't want to talk about it, just please go back to bed."

Amélie repeated herself.

"Lena."

"What!?"

Lena snapped in irritation as she looked back at Amélie.

Amélie extended her arms as an invitation for a hug.

Lena looked at Amélie for a moment before her angry face mellowed into a regretful smile. She leaned over and accepted the hug from Amélie, their heads each resting on the shoulders of the other woman.

Nothing went wrong until Amélie put her hands on Lena's head, lovingly caressing her face.

Lena scrambled out of the bed in a panic and said

"What the fuck, Amélie?!"

"Lena, what's wrong with you?!" Amélie demanded. "Do you not love me anymore?" She asked.

Lena's mouth was open, but she couldn't speak.

"I, I..."

"I see. Au revoir, Lena." Amélie said as she got out of the bed. Grabbing her night robe from at her feet, she padded to the door and grabbed the latch.

"Amélie wait, please!"

"Why? Why should I wait? Do you even love me anymore?"

"I do! I really do, it's just..."

Amélie took her hand off the latch and looked back at Lena.

"Then why did you say those things? Why did you do those things? You were suffering, and I poured out the love in my heart for you to make you feel safe. And in an instant, you dashed it all away, and treated me like shit!"

"I'm sorry! I truly am, it's just," Lena paused.

"I had a nightmare about killing you to avenge Mondatta." she admitted.

Plunging in, she continued.

"This all goes back to when we first had sex. When you grabbed my head in both your hands a minute ago, it reminded me of when you fucked me, and then I asked you to eat me out. I had both my hands on your head, and I realized how easy it would be to kill you. Just one little jerk of my hands, and you'd be dead. My arms twitched to fulfill the deadly purpose I had in my mind, but I had to stop the tremor in my arms before it reached my hands. I almost snapped your neck!"

Amélie thought over the last couple weeks, and remembered the instance in question.

"I'm sorry Amélie, but you reminded me of something I tried so fucking hard to forget, and I panicked."

Amélie replaced her hand on the door latch, making to depart.

"Amélie no! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Lena said passionately and truthfully, her sorrow reducing her to a blubbering mess of manifold apologies, spewed with boundless sincerity.

Amélie took her hand off the door for what she decided would be the last time tonight.

Walking over to the bed, she dropped the night robe and sat back down.

"Why didn't you tell me from the start, Lena?"

"I didn't want to hurt you." Lena said, still crying.

"Oh _cherie_ , _ne pleure pas_ , mama's here." Amélie said without thinking as she hugged Lena close. Or rather, she was thinking about her mother, and spoke without filter.

"Mama?!" Lena observed incredulously through the tears.

" _Merde. Me pardon_ , that slipped out. You see Lena, my mother used to comfort me much the same way as I comfort you now. I was thinking about her, and I spoke before my brain caught up with my tongue."

Lena broke into renewed crying, lost in her own world of pain.

"Lena will you please tell me what's wrong?" Amélie begged.

Lena dried her tears and broke into a memory she had long buried.

"When I was in the Neverwhen because of the Slipstream, I was stuck **in** time, and yet I **was** time all at once. I saw multiple futures. I saw this very future, but deluded myself into believing that it would never happen. I saw the future where I was captured by Talon, and you and I loved each other there, in their evil clutches. I saw the future where Overwatch never was. I saw the future where the Omnics won against a humanity that dreamed peace was the only solution. Most importantly, I saw the future where you were my mother-don't ask me how-before Talon got their hands on you. That my father looked for you and was killed by Talon, and that you and I were reunited as mother and daughter. I was always on the lookout for danger to you. I burned my friendships to keep you safe, and I did it willingly. That future yielded nothing but pain for me, but I bore it as the scars of my obligation. When you said mama, it reminded me of the way I saw the Lena of that future address her mother."

"Amélie, can we go back to sleep, please?" Lena pleaded.

"Oui, but first, let's do this again; properly this time."

Amélie held out her arms, and Lena accepted another hug.

Amélie put her hands on Lena's head in the spirit of love.

"I love you, my darling Lena."

"I don't deserve you Amélie."

"Just this once, I don't think I'm wrong to feel the same, but I have you, and you have me. Good night, Lena, _ma cherie_."

"I love you so much, Amélie! Good night!" Lena whispered with a smile.

They tilted back to lay down together, still in each other's arms. Lena pulled the blanket over the both of them.

"Just remember Lena, you can always tell me if anything is wrong. Just as the reverse is also true. Amélie said.


	19. See no light

**Overwatch Headquarters.**

"Good to see you, boss; we thought you were dead." A deep voice broke the silence.

"Of course not. How's the team dealing with Jack's death?" The second voice inquired, belonging to a soft-spoken man.

"They had a party to mourn Jack last night. War stories, SNAFUs, the whole nine yards."

"Do they still trust Oxton?"

"They are aware of her new-found loyalties. I think the sooner we all realize that Lena Oxton can't be trusted, despite her being our friend, the better. Jack hand-picked her to be part of the strike team to end the King's Row Uprising, but that was a long time ago. Amélie has successfully stolen her away from us without even trying." The deep voice said remorsefully.

"Anyways, the rest of our potential recruits are on their way. Lucio got here last night, and Symmetra is on her way, so we'll see how that plays out. Fareeha was thrilled to hear from me, and said she'd be here by noon. Zarya's dead, and..."

"What happened to Zaryanova?"

"Bullet went clean through her head. Widowmaker's work."

"Widowmaker? I thought Amélie was rid of that bitch! Has anyone warned Lena?" Here the soft spoken man's voice grew harsh, and he paced restlessly.

"Oxton chased after her, and we believe that she succeeded in snapping Amélie out of it. Oxton consulted Zenyatta to in hopes of using 'the Iris' to purge Widowmaker from Amélie. Also, Oxton asked us to call her Lena Lacroix; she and Amélie consider themselves already married for now, they said they'll have a ceremony later."

"They're married?! Did the thing with Zenyatta even work?"

"We believe so. Moving on, we can't rely on Oxton for our upcoming undertaking."

"How do you figure?"

"If we ask Lena for her help with anything we do, any cause we try to further, Oxton will first weigh it through the filter of 'how will it affect Amélie?' Not 'how will it affect the chances for peace between humans and Omnics,' our long standing objective."

"I don't understand. Do we need her, or can we let her live her life with Amélie?" The second voice inquired.

"It would be beneficial if the poster child of Overwatch was present in this endeavor." The deep voice stated.

"All this stuff doesn't even matter if we're labeled as common criminals. The world would benefit if Overwatch were re-instated. Twenty years. Twenty fucking years of peace, and one problem child operative gets it all disbanded because he can't handle being passed up." The soft voice countered.

"Gabriel's misunderstanding was unfortunate."

"It was crippling to world interests."

"Well sir, the UN meets today to discuss peace talks with the Omnics. We could 'drop in' if you felt so inclined."

"That may be the best way forward, but I have someone I need to see, so it will just be you and the team..."

 **Meanwhile, in Lena's flat.**

"Hurry, Lena. We have to apologize to Overwatch." Widowmaker said.

"For what?" Lena asked as she got on her Chronal Accelerator.

"For killing Jack; this was your idea, after all."

"Oh yeah, that."

"What about your promise to him?"

"What, to kill you?"

"Oui. Will you keep it? Do I need to keep an eye on you?"

"Fuck no! I made a promise to Gerard first. It precedes my promise to Jack, and therefore renders the latter void."

"I love you too." Amélie interpreted.

* * *

"Come on down everybody; it's breakfast time, and I've got the hot hand!" McCree said loudly as he sauntered through the sleeping areas, wearing a messy apron spattered with flour.

"Thank you, Jesse, I think everyone knows by now." Winston said as he dropped down from his hanging tire.

"Ya'll are welcome. Pancakes and coffee, on the house." McCree said as people started groggily filing past him.

"Hey Lucio, I didn't know you were here!" McCree said in his lazy manner as his eyes beheld the Brazilian DJ.

"I got here yesterday just in time to set up a room and sleep in it."

"Say what?"

"I'm stayin' here for now."

"I can't believe it."

"Oh you'll believe it when I start serenading this place with my latest mixtape!"

"Let's play this by ear." McCree suggested.

"So why are you here?" he continued.

"I got a call from Winston yesterday, asking for my help in an 'upcoming undertaking'. He didn't go into specifics though. Where's Oxton?"

"She's with Amélie."

"Amélie Lacroix, the Widowmaker?"

"The one and only." McCree smiled.

"And you guys did nothing to stop her from hitching her wagon with a Talon operative?" Lucio said in his breezy manner.

"Those were our thoughts originally, but Lena managed to bring Amélie to the fore."

"Wait, what? What do you mean 'bring Amélie to the fore'?"

"You didn't hear the story?" McCree asked.

"What story? She killed her husband. Isn't that the whole story?"

"Well shit, you don't know jack about Amélie then."

"Then please explain."

"Nah-ah, after breakfast. We're already holdin' up the gang. Now come on."

When they entered, they saw that everyone had already started eating.

Imagine Lucio's surprise when he saw Satya Vaswani sitting at the table.

Said lady looked up to see the newcomers, and her eyes beheld Lucio.

It was as if everyone was transported back in time to the Wild West in the middle of a looming showdown. First draw wins.

"Winston, you did not tell me this thief would be here. And so our collaboration ends."

She stood up, but didn't get very far before Winston barred her path with one arm.

Satya simply ducked under Winston's arm and started walking out.

"Listen, Satya. I understand that you don't appreciate the idea of working with Dos Santos, but we need your help. I believe you remember working with the Widowmaker." Winston said to get her to pay attention.

Satya stopped.

"She struck me as a wretched soul, lost in her suffering."

"But she's not anymore. If we can get Overwatch re-instated, we can introduce her as Agent Lacroix, and get her pardoned by her association with Overwatch. Which is why we need to get into contact with the both of them."

"You will not have to look very far."

Everyone stood up in shock as Amélie entered the room, with Lena in tow.

Lucio grabbed his sonic amplifier just in case, which Amélie observed.

"Who is this?" Amélie asked pointing at Lucio.

"Amélie, this is Lucio Correia Dos Santos. He's here to help us in the fight against Talon, which has been mostly won already, but there are still pushes to be made." Winston explained.

"And this," Winston said pointing at Satya to explain.

"Is Symmetra. I know." Amélie said curtly, her fingers twitching as the words of Doomfist flashed through her head. _Recommended your weaponization, Vishkar representative, she. SHE! This has to be the representative Ogundimu_ _was referring to!_ Amélie thought.

"Now, what's all this about re-instating Overwatch? You guys don't have the authority to do that, even if I wish you did." Lena said.

"We're going to pay the United Nations a visit."

Lena immediately tapped Amélie on the shoulder and started walking out the door.

"Then we're out, cuz Amélie can't risk going there what with her confirmed kills list and all. The risk of her arrest and likely execution is too great."

"That's why she would only be introduced after we get re-instated, which I believe we will, because we've got the support of the people. And she's got her grappling hook, so she could deploy with me, when I enter in by breaking the roof above and behind the podium. That's where you grapple to a rafter for concealment."

"There's just one problem, you don't know the layout of the building, do you?" Amélie inquired.

"Yes, we do actually, we've already done the surveillance via spider drone."

"Well good. I hope you get Overwatch legalized again, but we're out. Thanks anyway luvs, and we'll see ya some other time."

"Lena." Amélie chided.

"Oh yeah, sorry about Jack. It was Doomfist's fault. I didn't want to, but I did what I had to do to keep Amélie safe."

"You killed him? You killed Jack?!" McCree asked.

"It was the only choice I had. If it makes you feel any better, Amélie killed me and brought me back via Angela's Caduceus Staff."

"It doesn't."

"That's a lie, I've never let my staff out of my sight for the past two weeks." Angela exclaimed.

"When Sombra got her hands on it, she replicated the design specs for your staff and the nano-probes."

"You mean to say that Talon has their hands on my staff, Lena? The power to resurrect people from the dead?!"

"No. Sombra deleted the specs after she created another Caduceus staff."

"Damn it, Lena. How far will you go for Amélie? Will you throw the world away to be with her?!"

"If I have to." So saying, Oxton left and pulled Amélie out with her.

"I knew that was a bad idea!" Lena exclaimed as they walked back to her flat.

Amélie smiled knowingly and kept walking.

"I appreciate you looking out for me, Lena." Amélie said, feeling suddenly serious.

"It's my obligation." Lena said.

"Where are your scars, then?" Amélie said with a wink.

"It's frighteningly true how many parallels there are to that reality and this one." Lena admitted.

Amélie was feeling serious again.

"Lena. I want to talk about our relationship."

"What's up luv?"

"I feel like we've been having too much sex lately, and you know I'm not just in this for the sex, so I want you to say no when you don't feel like fucking. I will do the same, even if you're the one feeling horny."

"I know, luv. I feel the same way."

"As long as we always take care to understand each other, I feel there's a good chance that our relationship will last." Amélie said happily.

"That sounds good to me. Anyways, let's get back home before they decide to chase

us."

* * *

Arriving back safely, Amélie opened the door and was surprised to see a strange masked man sitting on the couch, acting as if he was without a care in the world. Oh Amélie, if only you knew.

Using the grappling hook on her suit, she grappled her Widow's Kiss into her hands, and leveled it at him.

"Who are you?" Amélie demanded

"I think you'll find that your Widow's Kiss is out of bullets." Stated the stranger in a low voice.

Click! Amélie pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

Lena grabbed her pulse pistols from the bookshelf near the door and aimed them at the man as well.

"The battery cells are drained. Rather unfortunate."

Lena pulled the trigger only to hear it click. Nothing happened.

"What a shame. Don't you recognize me?"

"You wear a mask. How am I supposed to recognize you?" Amélie retorted.

"My voice."

"I remember nothing, and certainly not someone with a voice like yours."

"Oxton, do you recognize me?"

"There was someone I used to know with a voice that sounded like yours, but he's been dead for years."

Here the man made a tsk'ing sound. Standing up, he removed the mask. Lo, there for Amélie and Lena to behold, back from the grave, was Gerard Lacroix himself...


End file.
